Content outline:     I.      Creation Versus Evolution As World-Views
                            II.     Science and The Scriptures
                            III.    The Bible, Creation, and Science
                            IV.    The Bible, The Fall, and Science
                            V.     The Bible, The Flood, and Science
                            VI.    The Bible, Dinosaurs, and Science
                            VII    The Bible, Death, and Evolution

I.   Creation Versus Evolution As World-Views (Appendix 2, p1491)

Creation: 1. Self-existing eternal Creator
               2. Cosmos created by divine fiat
               3. Basis systems completed in the past by supernatural processes
               4. Net changes in created systems "downward" toward disorganization

Evolution: 1. Self-originating or self-existing cosmos
                2. Cosmos organized by itself
                3. All systems developed by still-continuing natural processes
                4. Net changes in evolving systems "upward" toward disorganization

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II.   Science and the Scriptures (Appendix 8, p1523)

Scientific Allusions in Scripture:
    The Bible abounds with references to nature and natural processes and thus frequently touches on the various sciences. Those who say the Bible is not a book of science have not read it closely enough.
    The writers of the Bible do not attempt to formulate these statements in the terminology of a modern chemical or biological theatise. They use everyday language comprehensible to all readers, describing the phenomenon in simplest terms. Nevertheless, they are always amazingly accurate, even when tested by the most rigorous scientific requirements. The so-called scientific mistakes of the Bible are not mistakes at all, nor do they have to be allegorized or explained as cultural accommodations or conventionalities.
... let us note some of the anticipatory scientific insights in Scripture. The list shown includes a representative sampling of the many such passages that might be cited.

Science Phenomenon or ProcessScripture

Hydrology
Hydrologic Cycle Ecclesiastes 1:7; Isaiah 55:10
Evaporation Psalm 135:7; Jeremiah 10:13
Condensation Nuclei Proverbs 8:26
Condensation Job 26:8; 37:11,16
Precipitation Job 36:26-28
Run-off Job 28:10
Oceanic Reservoir Psalm 33:7
Snow Job 38:22; Psalm 147:16
Hydrologic Balance Job 28:24-26
Springs in the Sea Job 38:16
Geology Principle of Isostasy Isaiah 40:12; Psalm 104:5-9
Shape of Earth Isaiah 40:22; Job 26:10; Psalm 103:12
Rotation of Earth Job 38:12,14
Gravitation Job 14:18,19
Rock Erosion Job 14:18,19
Glacial Period Job 38:29,30
Uniformitarianism II Peter 3:4
Dinosaurs Job 40,41

Astronomy
Size of Universe Job 11:7-9; 22:12; Isaiah 55:9; Jeremiah 31:37
Number of Stars Genesis 22:17; Jeremiah 33:22
Uniqueness of Each Star I Corinthians 15:41
Precision of Orbits Jeremiah 31:35, 36

Meteorology
Circulation of Atmosphere Ecclesiastes 1:6
Protective Effect of Atmosphere Isaiah 40:22
Oceanic Origin of Rain Ecclesiastes 1:7
Relation of Electricity to Rain Job 28:26; Jeremiah 10:13
Fluid Dynamics Job 28:25

Biology
Blood Circulation Leviticus 17:11
Psychotherapy Proverbs 16:24; 17:22
Biogenesis & Stability Genesis 1:11, 21, 25
Uniqueness of Man Genesis 1:26
Chemical Nature of Flesh Genesis 1:11, 24-2:7;3:19
Cave-men Job 12:23-25; 30:3-8

Physics
Mass-Energy Equivalence Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3
Source of Energy for Earth Psalm 19:6
Atomic Disintegration II Peter 3:10
Electrical Transimission Job 38:35
of Information
Television Revelation 11:9-11
Rapid Transportation Daniel 12:4

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III.   The Bible, Creation, and Science

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Dr. Morris:
1:1 "God". This opening verse of the Bible is unique, the foundations of foundations, probably the first words ever written down, either revealed to Adam, or even written directly by God Himself. God, (Elohim) is eternal, existing before the universe, and is omnipotent, having created the universe. Therefore, nothing is impossible with God, and He alone gives meaning to everything. No attempt is made in this verse to prove God; it was recorded in the beginning when no one doubted God.

1:1 "created". No other cosmogony, whether in ancient paganism or modern naturalism, even mentions the absolute origin of the universe. All begin with the space/time/matter universe, already existing in a primeval state of chaos, then attempt to speculate how it might have "evolved" into its present form.
    Modern evolutionism begins with elementary particles of matter evolving out of nothing in a "big bang" and then developing through natural forces into complex systems.
    Pagan pantheism also begins with elementary matter in various forms evolving into complex systems by the forces of nature personified as different gods and goddesses.
    But, very significantly, the concept of the special creation of the universe of space and time itself is found nowhere in all religion or philosophy, ancient or modern, except here in Genesis 1:1.
    Appropriately, therefore, this verse records the creation of space "the heaven"), of time ("in the beginning") and of matter ("the earth"), the tri-universe,m the space/time/matter continuum which constitutes our physical cosmos. The Creator of this tri-universe is the triune God, Elohim, the uni-plural Old Testament name for the divine "Godhead", a name which is plural in form (with its Hebrew "im" ending) but commonly singular in meaning.
    The existence of a transcendent Creator and the necessity of a primeval special creation of the universe is confirmed by the most basic principles of nature discovered by scientists:
    (1) The law of causality, that no effect can be greater than its cause, is basic in all scientific investigation and human experience. A universe comprising an array of intelligible and complex effects, including living systems and conscious personalities, is itself proof of an intelligent, complex, living, conscious Person as its Cause.
    (2) The laws of thermodynamics are the most universal and best-proved generalizations of science, applicable to every process and system of any kind. The First Law stating that no matter/energy is now being created or destroyed, and the Second Law stating that all existing matter/energy is proceeding irreversibly toward ultimate equilibrium and cessation of all processes. Since this eventual death of the universe has not yet occurred and since it will occur in time, if these processes continue, the Second Law proves that time (and therefore, the space/matter/time universe) had a beginning. The universe must have been created but the First Law precludes the possibility of its self-creation.
    The only resolution of the dilemma posed by the First and Second Laws is that "in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
    The so-called big bang theory of the origin of the cosmos, postulating a primeval explosion of the space/mass/time continuum at the start, beginning with a state of nothingness and then rapidly expanding into the present complex universe, contradicts both these basic laws as well as Scripture.

Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Dr. Morris:
1:2 "the earth". In an attempt to accommodate the supposed evolutionary geological ages in Genesis, theorists postulate a long gap in time between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, in which it was hoped these ages could be pigeon-holed and forgotten as far as Biblical exegesis was concerned.
    This gap theory, however, requires a worldwide cataclysm at the end of the geological ages in order to account for the globally inundated and darkened earth described in genesis 1:2. The cataclysm, in turn, is hypothetically connected with the fall of Lucifer in heaven (Isaiah14:9-14) and his expulsion to the earth (Ezekiel 28:12-15), though such a cataclysm is nowhere mentioned in Scripture. However, in addition to its obvious contradictions with other important and clear Bible passages (Genesis 1:31; Exodus 20:11), the gap theory is self-defeating geologically. The geological age system )which is the necessary framework for modern evolutionism) is based entirely on the principle of uniformitarianism, a premise which precludes any such worldwide cataclysm, and requires the interpreting of earth history by the extrapolation of present slow geological processes into the remote past. The concept of geological ages is based entirely on a uniformitarian explanation of the fossil beds and sedimentary rocks of the earth’s crust, which would all have been destroyed by the postulated pre-Adamic cataclysm. Thus, any attempt to ignore or explain away the supposed great age of the earth by appeal to the gap theory makes an unnecessary and abortive compromise with evolutionism, and displays a lack of understanding of the geological structures and processes to which evolutionists appeal in postulating their long ages.
    The real answer to the geological ages is not a pre-Adamic cataclysm, but the very real cataclysm of the Noahic Deluge (see comments on Genesis 6-9), which provides a much better explanation of the fossil beds and sedimentary rocks, eliminating all evidence of geological ages and confirming the Biblical doctrine of recent creation.

1:2 "was upon the face of the deep" The verb "was" in Genesis 1:2 is the regular Hebrew verb of being (hayetha) and does not denote a change of state unless the context so requires. It only rarely is translated "became" as the gap theory postulates here. Neither does the phrase tohu waw bohu need to mean "ruined and desolated," as the gap theory requires. The King James translation "without form and void" is the proper meaning.

1:2 "was without form, and void". The universe as first called into existence by Elohim was in elemental existence, still "unformed" and unenergized, not yet ready for habitation, "void" ... It would not be perfect (finished) until the end of creation week, when God would pronounce it "very good" and "finished" (Genesis 1:31-2:3). The "earth" material was suspended in a matrix of water (the "deep"), completely static and therefore in "darkness".

1:2 "And the Spirit ... moved". However, this condition prevailed only momentarily. Then, the "Spirit" (Hebrew ruach) of "God" (Elohim) proceeded to "move upon the face of the waters" (literally, "vibrate in the presence of the waters"). Waves of gravitational energy and waves of electro-magnetic energy began to pulse forth from the great "Breath" (another meaning of ruach) of God, the Prime Mover of the universe. The unformed "earth" material (Hebrew eretz), as well as the "waters" permeating it (Hebrew shamayim) quickly coalesced into spherical form under the new force of gravity, and the first material body (Planet Earth) had been formed at a point in space.

Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.

Dr. Morris:
1:3 "God said". As the "Spirit" of God "moved" (Genesis 1:2), so now the Word of God speaks in Genesis 1:3. The result is light, the energizing of the vast cosmos through the marvelous electro-magnetic force system which maintains all structures and processes in matter. These varied energies include not only visible light, but also all the short-wave radiations (ultra-violet, x-rays, etc.) and the long-wave radiations (infra-red, radio waves, etc.) as well as heat, sound, electricity, magnetism, molecular inter-actions, etc. "Light", the most basic form of energy, is mentioned specifically, but its existence necessarily implies the activation of all forms of electro-magnetic energies. Light was not created, since God Himself dwells in light. On the other hand, He created darkness (Isaiah 45:7).
    The existence of visible light prior to the establishment of the sun, moon and stars (Genesis 1:16) emphasizes the fact that light (energy) is more fundamental than light givers. God could just as easily (perhaps more easily) have created waves of light energy as He could have constructed material bodies in which processes function which generate light energy. The first is direct (since God is light), the second indirect. For the creation of such light generators, see note on Genesis 1:14.

Genesis 1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Dr. Morris:
1:4 "darkness". That these rays of light energy included the visible light spectrum is obvious by its separation from the newly created "darkness". That most of this visible light emanated from one direction in space and, further, that the newly-sphericized earth began now to rotate on its axis, is shown by the establishment of a cyclical succession of "Day" and "Night", which has continued ever since.

Genesis 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Dr, Morris:
1:5 "Day". The use of "Day" (Hebrew yom) in genesis 1:5 is its first occurrence in Scripture, and here it is specifically defined by God as "the light" in the cyclical succession of light and darkness which has, ever since, constituted a solar day. Since the same word is used in defining all later "yoms" as used for this "first" yom, it is incontrovertible that God intends us to know that the days of creation week were of the same duration as any natural solar day. The word yom in the Old Testament almost always is used in this natural way and is never used to mean any other definite time period than a literal day. This becomes especially clear when it is combined with an ordinal ("first day") or with definite bounds ("evening and morning"), neither of which usages in the Old Testament allow non-literal meanings. It is occasionally, though rarely, used symbolically or in the sense of indefinite time ("the day of the Lord," I Thessalonians 5:2), but such usage (as in english or other languages) is always evident from the context itself. Thus the so-called day-age theory, by which the days of creation are assumed to correspond to the ages of geology, is precluded by this definitive use of the word in its first occurrence, God Himself defining it.

1:5 "evening and morning". The use of "evening and morning" in that order is significant. As each day’s work was accomplished during the "light", there was a cessation of God’s activity during the "darkness". Consequently, there was nothing to report between "evening and morning". The beginning of the next day’s activity began with the next period of light, after the "morning" or better, "dawning". The literal sense of the formula after each day’s work is: "Then there was dusk, then dawn, ending the first day."

Genesis 1:6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

Dr. Morris:
1:6 "firmament". The "firmament" is not a great vaulted dome in the sky but is simply the atmospheric expanse established between the waters above and below. The Hebrew word, raqiya, means "expanse" or perhaps better, "stretched-out thinness." Since God specifically identified it with "Heaven," it also can be understood simply as "space." Thus, on the second day God separated the primeval deep into two deeps, with a great space between. The waters below the space retained the elemental earth materials which would be utilized on the following day to form the land and its plant cover. The waters above the firmament had apparently been transformed into the vapor state in order to be separated from the heavier materials and elevated above the atmosphere, where it could serve as a thermal blanket for the earth’s future inhabitants.
    Such a vapor canopy would undoubtedly have provided a highly efficient "greenhouse effect." assuring a perennial spring-like climate for the entire earth. Water vapor both shields the earth against harmful radiation from space and also retains and spreads incoming solar heat. A vapor canopy would thus provide an ideal environment for abundant animal and plant life and for longevity and comfort in human life. Water vapor is invisible, and thus would be translucent, allowing the stars to be seen through it. This would not be the case with a liquid water or ice canopy.

Genesis 1:7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.

Dr. Morris:
1:7 "above the firmament". The "waters which were above the firmament" are clearly not the clouds or the vapor which now float in the atmosphere. The Hebrew word al, definitely requires the meaning "above". Furthermore, the absence of rain (Genesis 2:5) and the rainbow (Genesis 9:13) is not only explained but required by a vapor canopy, not by an atmosphere like that of the present.
    Furthermore, these waters extending far out into space eventually condensed and fell back to the earth at the time of the Great Deluge, providing the source of the worldwide rainstorm that contributed to the Flood. Although the exact extent and structure of this canopy is still being researched by computer simulations, there are no insuperable scientific problems with the concept.

Genesis 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
            1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
            1:10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was goodl.

Dr. Morris:
1:9 "dry land". The work of the third day began with the laying of the foundations of the earth (see notes on Job 38:4; Proverbs 8:29; Psalm 33:7) by the power of God’s spoken Word. The waters "under the heaven" apparently still contained all the material elements of the earth in solution or suspension until the energizing Word initiated a vast complex string of chemical and physical reactions to precipitate, combind and sort all the rock materials and metals comprising the solid earth. The "earth" (Hebrew eretz) thus formed was the same "earth" which had initially been "without form" (the same word eretz is used in Genesis 1:1,2,10), but it was now "dry land", no longer mixed in the initial watery matrix.

1:10 "Seas". As the solid materials precipitated and then moved down and around under the forces of gravity, internal heat, and other electro-magnetic energies (not to mention the outflowing energy of the divine Word), great basins opened up to receive and store the waters. Some of these waters were trapped and stored in the "great deep" (Genesis 7:1), subterranean chambers beneath the earth’s crust. Others accumulated in surface basins. However, all were evidently interconnected through a network of subterranean channels, so that they were both singular and plural- gathered together into "one place," yet called "Seas".
    Thus were established the primeval continents and primeval oceans. We do not now know the original geography, however, since all was cataclysmically changed at the time of the Great Flood. We can infer that the topography was gently rolling and the water-ways were relatively shallow and narrow, since all was "very good" and was made for man’s enjoyment and utilization (Genesis 1:26-28, 31).

Genesis 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the
                    earth:  and it was so.
            1:12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself,
                    after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Dr. Morris:
1:11 "bring forth grass". The ability of the earth to begin immediately producing abundant plant life everywhere, on the very same day as the forming of the land surfaces, shows that the upper portion of the crust was a rich soil, fertile in chemical nutrients and retaining adequate moisture to sustain the lush vegetation. This fact illustrates an important principle. True creation necessarily involves the theory of a "creation of apparent age." or better, "creation of functioning maturity." That is, the soil did not gradually form over hundreds of years by rock weathering and other modern uniformitarian processes. It was readied instantaneously by divine fiat. The plants did not develop from seeds; rather the herb was formed "yielding seed". Similarly, the fruit trees were "yielding fruit," not requiring several years of preliminary growth as do modern fruit trees.

1:11 "seed". The "seed" which god designed guaranteed reproduction of each plant "after his kind." this phrase, repeated nine more time in Genesis 1 after this first occurrence, obviously precludes transmutation of one kind into another. The "seed" was programmed for stable reproduction of each kind through a remarkable system known today as the "genetic code," the complex information program in the DNA molecule. This system allows wide "horizontal" variation within the kind, but no "vertical" evolution from one kind into a more complex kind. It is significant that, despite widespread belief in evolution, no scientist has yet documented a single instance of true vertical evolution occurring today. the modern taxonomic equivalent of "kind" is probably broader than "species" in many cases, since the latter term is an arbitrary man-made category. That is, the many varieties of dogs are all part of the created "dog kind," just as all tribes and nations of men constitute one "mankind" (Acts 17:25,26)

1:12 "grass". It should be noted that plant life, in all its forms, was created before animal life, thus contradicting the order postulated by evolutionists. There are over twenty such contradictions between the order of creation in Genesis and that in evolutionary paleontology.

Genesis 1:13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
             1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for
                    days, and years.
            1:15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth; and it was so
            1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also.
            1:17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
            1:18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.
            1:19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Dr. Morris:
1:14 "lights". On the first day, God had said: "Let there be light" (Hebrew or). Now He says; "Let there be lights" (Hebrew ma-or). Light energy was activated first, but now great masses of material (part of the "earth" elements created on the first day) were gathered together in one of the firmaments, or spaces, of the cosmos -- the space beyond the waters above the space adjacent to the earth. These great bodies were set burning in complex chemical and nuclear reactions to serve henceforth as light-givers for the earth.

1:14 "signs" The Hebrew word for "signs" is the same word (oth) used for Cain’s "mark" (Genesis 4:15) and for Noah’s "token" (meaning the rainbow -- Genesis 9:12). Evidently the stars were arranged by God to signify something to those on the earth, not just scattered evenly or randomly around in space. God even named the stars and their constellations (Job 38:31-ee; Isaiah 40:26). For their possible significance, see notes on Amos 5:8; Job 9-9; 26:13; 38:32.

1:14 "seasons". The establishment of "seasons" (and these were not simply religious seasons, but actual climatological seasons) indicates that the earth was formed with an axial inclination from the beginning, for this is the basic cause of its seasons.

1:16 "the stars also". These stars were scattered in tremendous numbers throughout the infinite recesses of the heavens (Isaiah 55:9). The light energy emanating from them would henceforth traverse space to "give light upon the earth," providing patterns and movements which would also enable man to keep records of time and history. In order to serve these purposes, however, light energy trails would need to be established already in space between each star and earth. Thus, men would have been able to see stars billions of light-years away at the very moment of their formation, in accordance with the principle of mature creation, or creation of apparent age.

1:17 "light upon the earth". The establishment of the light-giving functions of the sun and moon half-way through creation week is obviously inconsistent with the day-age theory. This is compounded by the fact that plant life on the earth was made one day before the sun, a situation which would be absurdly impossible if this "day" was an "age." Furthermore, these "lights" were to be used to measure days and years. This is the plural (yamin) of the Hebrew "day" (yom). They were also to "rule over the day and over the night," and all this was done on the fourth day (Genesis 1:19). This repeated use of the same word in the passage requires the meaning in each case to be the same. The fourth "day" was thus obviously a solar day like all the rest.

Genesis 1:20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of     heaven.

Dr. Morris:
1:20 "open firmament." Both "lights" (Genesis 1:15) and the "fowl" are said to be in the "firmament of heaven." However, the fowl were to be in the "open" (Hebrew pene) firmament of heaven, or better, "the face of the firmament of heaven." Thus, birds fly only in the lower reaches of the vast spaces of the heavens. Or, it may be that there are two different firmaments of heaven.

Genesis 1:21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged
                    fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
            1:22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
            1:23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Dr. Morris:
1:21 "great whales." Fish and other marine organisms were created simultaneously with birds and other flying creatures, in obvious contradiction to the sequence postulated by evolutionists. The "moving creature" (Hebrew sherets) of Genesis 1:20 is translated elsewhere as "creeping thing," and here evidently refers to marine invertebrates and marine reptiles, as well as the fishes. The word translated "great whales" (Hebrew tannin) is elsewhere the regular word for "dragons," and most probably refers to the great marine reptiles often called dinosaurs.

1:21 "living creature." It is significant that the word "create" (Hebrew bara) is applied to the introduction of animal life, but not to plant life. Plants are highly complex replicating chemical systems, as are animals, with reproductive programs based in the remarkable DNA molecule in both cases. However, animals possess another entity - that of consciousness - which plants do not possess, and this required a second act of true creation (the first was in Genesis 1:1, the creation of the basic space/mass/time universe). Such consciousness is the essential meaning of the Hebrew word nephesh, commonly translated "soul", but here in its first occurrence translated "life", and then in the next verse "living creature." Thus, both men and animals possess the specially-created nephesh.

Genesis 1:24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

Dr. Morris:
1:24 "earth bring forth". The land animals were brought forth (no need for a further act of creation, since the nephesh principle had already been created) in the early part of the sixth day. There was a natural three-fold categorization (no correlation with the arbitrary classification system used by modern biologists) consisting of cattle (domesticable animals), beasts of the earth (large non-domesticable animals) and creepers (small animals that crawl or creep close to the ground). The reversal of the sequence in Genesis 1:24, 25 indicates that all were formed simultaneously. The bodies of these animals, like that of man (Genesis 2:7) were all formed from the basic element of the earth.

1:24 "it was so". Note the logical order of God’s formation of things. On the first day, He made the earth’s atmosphere and hydrosphere, on the second day its lithosphere and biosphere. On the central day of the week, the heavenly astrosphere was formed. Then, on the fifth day, living creatures were formed for earth’s atmosphere and hydrosphere, and on the sixth day, for its lithosphere and biosphere. On the first day god created and energized His elemental universe; on the last day, God blessed and sanctified His completed universe.

Genesis 1:25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw
                    that it was good.

Dr. Morris:
1:25 "after his kind". The phrase "after his kind" occurs repeatedly, stressing the reproductive integrity of each land animal kind, of the same sort as that of each plant kind (Genesis 1:11,12) and each air animal and water animal (Genesis 1:21). All of these reprogrammed in terms of the biochemical genetic code, utilizing the basic elements of the earth. Both plants and animals are formed from the created eretz ("earth"), only animals from the created nephesh ("soul" or "consciousness").

Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and
                    over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
            1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
            1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of
                    the   sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
            1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree
                    yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
            1:30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every
                    green herb for meat: and it was so.
            1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Dr. Morris:
1:26 "likeness" Man was not only created in God’s spiritual image; he was also made in God’s physical image. His body was specifically planned to be most suited for the divine fellowship (erect posture, upwardgazing countenance, facial expressions varying with emotional feelings, brain and tongue designed for articulate symbolic speech - none of which are shared by the animals). Furthermore, his body was designed to be like the body which God had planned from eternity that He Himself would one day assume (I Peter 1:20).

1:26 "dominion" The "dominion" man was to exercise was to be over both "the earth" and also all the other living creatures on the earth. Such dominion obviously was under God as a stewardship, not as autonomous sovereign. Man was to care for the earth and its creatures, developing and utilizing the earth’s resources, not to despoil and deplete them for selfish pleasure.

1:27 "male and female" Note that "man" is here (and often in Scripture) used in a generic sense to include both man and woman. Both male and female were created (the details of their physical formation being given in Genesis 2) in God’s image. Thus both possess equally an eternal spirit capable of personal fellowship with their Creator. Shared equally by men and women are all those spiritual attributes not shared by animals - moral conscience, abstract thought, appreciation of beauty, emotional feelings, and, especially, the capacity for worshipping and loving God.

1:28 "replenish" God’s first command to man was that of producing abundant progeny sufficient to fill the earth (not replenish, a misleading translation of the Hebrew word male).  Perhaps the animals had been created in large numbers of each kind, but the human population began with only two people. The function of subduing the earth and having dominion over it would necessarily require a long time - first, for the growth of a large enough population to fill the earth, and second, for the acquiring of enough knowledge and skill to enable man to bring it under full control and development.

1:28 "have dominion" This primeval commandment to conquer and rule the earth has been called the dominion mandate, though a better term might be the primeval commission to mankind. It has never been abrogated, but was specifically renewed and extended after the Flood (see notes on Genesis 9:1-7). The military terminology in no way implies hostility and resistance from the earth, for it was all "very good" (Genesis 1:31). It suggests, rather, intensive study of the earth and its creatures (that is, science) and then application of that knowledge (that is, technology and commerce) for the optimum benefit of mankind and the animals, and for the glory of God.
    Note that no instruction was given to exercise dominion over other men but only over the earth and the animals. Had man not rebelled against God’s Word, all would have remained in perfect fellowship with God, and therefore, with one another. There was no initial need for the so-called social sciences and technologies, but only the natural sciences and their implementation. This situation was radically changed at the Fall, and God’s commandment accordingly expanded officially after the Flood.

1:29 "given you every herb" It is plain that both men and animals were originally intended to be vegetarian and herbivorous in their appetites. There was adequate nourishment and energy value available in the fruits and herbs to enable both to accomplish the work God had given them to do. The supply could not be exhausted, since these plants were designed to replicate themselves through the seeds they produced.

1:29 "all the earth" The fact that their food would be available everywhere, "upon the face of all the earth," shows that in the originally created world there were no deserts or other uninhabitable regions, no frozen tundras or ice caps, no rugged high mountain ranges. With lush vegetation everywhere, the animals no doubt soon had populated all the earth.

1:29 "be for meat" The question as to how or when some of the animals became carnivorous is not definitely answerable at this late date, since the Bible does not say. In the future kingdom age, there will again be no predation or struggle between animals or between animals and men (Isaiah 11:6-9; Hosea 2:18). Even today, both animals and men can (and do, on occasion) live on a strictly vegetarian, herbivorous diet. The development of fangs and claws, as well as other such structures and practices, may be explained as either (1) recessive created features which became dominant by selection processes as the environment worsened following the Fall and Flood; (2) features created originally by the Creator in foreknowledge of the coming Curse; or (3) mutational changes following the Curse, converting originally benign structures into predatory and defensive structures.

1:31 "very good" This one verse precludes any interpretation of Genesis which seeks to accommodate the geological ages in its system. The "geological ages" are identified by the fossils dated in the sedimentary rocks of the earth’s crust, which supposedly depict a billion-year history of the evolution of life on the earth. In this case simple fossils are found in ancient rocks and more complex fossils in younger rocks. But fossils really depict a world in which death reigns. Fossils are the remains of dead organisms, from amoebae to man, and thus represent a world full of suffering and death, not a world pronounced by God as "very good."
    Six times before in this chapter, God had adjudged His work to be "good". Now, after completing everything (even the "host of heaven:" see next verse), He declared it all to be "exceedingly good" (literal meaning of the Hebrew word rendered "very").
    The evolutionary ages of geology represent a billion years of wasteful inefficiency and profound cruelty if they were, indeed, a part of God’s work. They would completely discredit God as a God of order, intelligence, power, grace and love. Death represents "the wages of sin" (Romans 6:23), not of divine love.
    Thus, the gap theory (placing the geological ages before creation week) and the day-age or progessive creation theory (incorporating the geological ages during creation week) in effect imply that the Creator is either a bumbler or a monster. In reality, the geological ages are nothing but evolutionary delusions; the fossils are much more realistically explained in terms of the Flood.
    Even Satan himself (with all the host of heaven who later followed him in rebelling against God) still "wast perfect" (Ezekiel 28:15) at the end of the creation week. His fall from heaven to the earth could only have been after God’s universal "very good" proclamation.

Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
            2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
            2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
            2:4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.
            2:5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the
                earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
            2:6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

Dr. Morris:
2:1 "finished" The strong emphasis in these verses on the completion of all of God’s creating and making activity is a clear refutation of both ancient evolutionary pantheism and modern evolutionary materialism, which seek to explain the origin and development of all things in terms of natural processes and laws innate to the universe. Creation is complete, not continuing (except in miracles, of course; if evolution takes place at all, it would require continuing miraculous intervention in the present laws of nature).

2:2 "ended his work" This statement of completed creation anticipates the modern scientific laws of thermodynamics. The First Law states essentially the same truth: the universe is not now being created but is being conserved, with neither matter nor energy being created or destroyed. On the Second Law (the universal law of increasing disorder) see notes on Genesis 3:17 and Genesis 1:1.

2:3 "sanctified it" God’s "rest" on the seventh day is not continuing; the verb is in the past tense - "rested," not "is resting." His blessing and hallowing of the seventh day could not apply to this present age of sin and death, but only to the "very good" world He had just completed.
    Nevertheless, this "hallowing" of every seventh day was for man’s benefit (Mark 2:27) and was obviously intended as a permanent human institution. This institution is not controlled by the heavenly bodies which mark days, months, seasons and years, but by the physical and spiritual need of all men for a weekly day of rest and worship in thankfulness for God’s great gift of creation and (later) for His even greater gift of salvation. The Sabbath (literally rest) day was incorporated in the Mosaic covenant with Israel in a special way, but its use preceded Israel and will continue eternally (Isaiah 66:23). However, the emphasis is on a seventh day, not necessarily Saturday. Since Christ’s resurrection, in fact, most Christians have identified their weekly cycle as centering on the first day of the week. The age-long, worldwide observance of the week is not contingent on the movements of the sun and moon (like the day, the month and the year) but is rather mute testimony to its primeval establishment as a memorial of God’s literal seven-day creation week.

2:4 "generations" (Hebrew toledoth) is the word from which the book of Genesis gets its name. In the Septuagint it is rendered by the Greek genesis, which in Matthew 1:1 is translated "generation." This is the first occurrence of the formula which marks the key subdivisions of the book: "These are the generations of ..." The others are at Genesis 5:1, 6:9; 10:1; 11:10,27; 25:19; 36:1,9; 37:2.
    In all except this first one, the name of a specific patriarch is attached. Parallels with the terminology of the ancient Babylonian tablets indicate that these names are actually the signatures of the original writers of the particular tablets. That is, each of these primeval patriarchs kept the narrative records of his own generations, inscribing them on stone or clay tablets and then appending his name at the end when he was ready to turn over the tablets and the task of writing the toledoth to the next in line.
    These tablets eventually came into Moses’ possession, who wrote the last section of Genesis (37:3), obtaining the information from "the sons of Jacob" (Exodus 1:1), as well as organizing and editing all the rest under divine inspiration, so that the entire collection finally became, in effect, the first of the five books of Moses. Since the first tablet (Genesis 1:1-2:4a) tells of events prior to the existence of any witness to record them, God Himself either wrote this section directly or specifically revealed it to Adam. It describes the generations of no person but rather those of the cosmos itself.

2:4 "in the day" As per the ancient Babylonian practice, the next tablet, beginning at 2:4b, keys in to the previous one by a phrase which both associates with the preceding histories and initiates the new narrative. The "day" of this verse does not necessarily refer to the entire creation week, as day-age theory advocates allege. It more likely refers to the first day of that week when God created the earth and the heavens, as just stated in Genesis 2:4a, and then proceeded also to "make" them through the rest of the six days.

2:5 "before it grew" This statement clearly teaches the fact of a mature creation, or creation of apparent age. The first plants did not grow from seeds but were created full grown.

2:5 "rain upon the earth" The primeval hydrological cycle was subterranean rather than atmospheric (see note on Genesis 1:7). The absence of rain was a consequence of the water vapor above the firmament and the uniform temperature which it maintained over the earth.

Rain today is dependent on the global circulation of the atmosphere, transporting water evaporated from the ocean inland to condense and precipitate on the lands. This circulation is driven by worldwide temperature differences in the atmosphere and would be impossible to attain with the global warmth sustained by the canopy.

2:6 "mist" The "mist" was not a river, as some writers think, as the Hebrew word simply means water vapor (Job 36:27); it refers merely to the local daily cycle of evaporation and condensation occasioned by the day/night temperature cycle.

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Dr. Morris;
2:7 "dust of the ground" Man’s body was formed out of the "elements of the earth," the same materials (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, etc.) from which both plants and the bodies of the animals had been formed (Genesis 1:12,24). This unity of physical composition is a fact of modern science long anticipated by Scripture.

2:7 "breath of life" Through animals also possess the "breath" (Hebrew neshimah; - Genesis 7:22) and the "soul" (Hebrew nephesh; -Genesis 1:24), man’s breath (same word as spirit) and soul were imparted to him by God directly, rather than indirectly, as imparted to the animals.

2:7 "living soul" Evolution is again refuted at this point. If man’s body had been derived from an animal’s body by any kind of evolutionary process, he would already have possessed the nephesh, rather than "becoming a living soul" when God gave him the breath of life.

Genesis 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
            2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the
                  garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
            2:10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
            2:11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
            2:12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
            2:13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
            2:14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates
            2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
            2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
            2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Dr. Morris:
2:8 "Eden" Eden was evidently a region somewhere east of where Adam first received consciousness, so that he could watch as God "planted" a beautiful garden there for his home. Though this was to be his base, he was actually instructed to "subdue" and "rule" the whole earth (Genesis 1:26-28). This verse is a summary, with Genesis 2:9-14 going back to give more details concerning Adam’s home.

2:9 "tree of life" The "tree of life" was an actual tree, with real fruit (Genesis 3:22; Revelation 22:2) whose properties would have enabled even mortal men to live indefinitely. Though modern scientists may have difficulty in determining the nature of such a remarkable food, they also have been unable so far even to determine the basic physiological cause of aging and death. Thus it is impossible to say scientifically that no chemical substance could exist which might stabilize all metabolic processes and thereby prevent aging.

2:9 "tree of knowledge" The same cautions apply to any discussions of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which likewise was genuinely physical. It is conceivable that the fruit contained substances capable of catalyzing physiological decay processes in the body, perhaps affecting even the genetic system. Whether or not this was the case, a "knowledge" of evil would necessarily follow its eating, since evil is fundamentally rejection of God’s Word. Man had abundant knowledge of good already since everything God had made was "very good" (Genesis 1:31), but disobedience would itself constitute an experimental knowledge of evil.

2:10 "out of Eden" The geography described in these verses obviously corresponds to nothing in the present world, although some of the names sound familiar. The Noahic Flood was so cataclysmic in its effects *II Peter 3:6) that the primeval geography was obliterated, with the post-Flood continents and oceans being completely different.
    The similarity of certain names (Ethiopia, Euphrates) is best explained in terms of the ascription by Noah or his sons of these names to postdiluvian features which reminded them of antediluvian geographic features, just as the explorers of America often gave European names to American sites.

2:10 "four heads" The rivers described in this section could not have derived their waters from rainfall (Genesis 2:5), and so must have been fed by artesian springs, or controlled fountains from the great deep. This implies a network of subterranean pressurized reservoirs and channels fed from the primeval seas and energized by the earth’s internal heat (see note on Genesis 1:9,10)

2:12 "is good" The present tense in which this description is written indicates it to be an eye-witness account, and thus most likely a record originally from Adam himself. However, the past tense in Genesis 2:10 "went" may suggest that at the time when Adam actually wrote it, the garden of Eden was no longer there.

2:12 "bdellium" The "bdellium" was evidently a precious gum, likened to the bread from heaven sent to the Israelities in the wilderness (Numbers 11:7)

2:15 "keep it" The ideal world, both before the entrance of sin and after the removal of sin (Revelation 22:3) is not one of idleness and frolic, but one of serious activity and service. Adam was placed in an ideal environment and circumstances, so he had no excuse for rejecting God’s love and authority.

2:17 "not eat of it" For true fellowship with God (having been created in His image), man must be free to reject that fellowship. The restriction imposed here by God is the simplest, most straightforward test that could be devised for determining man’s volitional response to God’s love. There was only one minor restraint placed on Adam’s freedom and, with an abundance of delicious fruit of all types available, there was no justification for his desiring the one forbidden fruit. Nevertheless, he did have a choice, and so was a free formal agent, capable of accepting or rejecting God’s will.

2:17 "die" "Thou shalt surely die" could be rendered, "dying, thou shalt die!" In the very day that he would experimentally come to "know evil" through disobeying God’s Word, he would die spiritually, being separated from God’s direct fellowship. Adam would also begin to die physically, with the initiation of decay processes in his body ultimately causing his physical death.

Genesis 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
            2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would
                    call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
            2:20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
            2:21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
            2:22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
            2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
            2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
            2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Dr. Morris:
2:18 "meet for him" The events described here all took place on the sixth day of the creation week after which God pronounced all things very good. All the animals had been created "male and female" (Genesis 6:19) and instructed to "multiply on the earth" (Genesis 1:24), but man still needed a "helper like him" (literal meaning).

2:19 "God formed" A better, and quite legitimate, translation is "had formed". Thus there is no contradiction with the order of creation in Genesis 1 (animals before man). The first chapter of Genesis gives a summary of the events on all six days of creation; the second chapter provides more details of certain events of the sixth day.

2:19 "the name thereof" The animals named by Adam included only birds, domesticable animals, and the smaller wild animals that would live near him. It would be possible for him to name about 3,000 of the basic kinds of these animals in about five hours (one every six seconds), and this would be adequate both to acquaint Adam with those animals and also to show clearly that there were none who were sufficiently like him to provide companionship for him. This is still further proof that man did not evolve from any of the animals, even those that were most directly associated with him.

2:20 "not found" As far as fossil evidence is concerned, many fossils of true men have been found (Neanderthal, Cro-Magnon, etc.) as well as fossils of true apes. The so-called hominids (Australopithecus;, Homoerectus, etc.) are fragmentary and controversial even among evolutionists and can all be interpreted either as extinct apes or degenerated men.

2:21 "deep sleep" The "deep sleep" was not simply an anesthetized state to prevent pain, since there was as yet no pain in the world. It was most likely ordained as a primeval picture of the future death of the second Adam, whose sacrificial death would result in the formation of His bride (II Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:30).

2:22 "ribs" The "rib" was actually the "side" of Adam (the Hebrew tsela occurs thirty-five times in the Old Testament and is nowhere else translated "rib"). The side contained both "bone" and "flesh" (Genesis 2:23), but it may be that both are implied in the blood that would necessarily flow from the opened side. The "life" of the flesh is in the blood" (Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 17:11) and a primeval blood "transfusion" would more perfectly fit the event as a type of the opened side of Christ on the cross (John 19:34-36). Even if the operation did actually extract a rib from Adam, this would not suggest that men should have one less rib than women, since "acquired characteristics" are not heritable.

2:22 "made he a woman" This remarkable record of the formation of the first woman could hardly have been invented by human imagination. Neither can it be interpreted in the context of theistic evolution, even if one could interpret the formation of Adam’s body from the dust in evolutionary terms. Its historicity is confirmed in the New Testament (I Timothy 2:13; I Corinthians 11:8). All other men have been born of woman, but the first woman was made from man.

2:24 "one flesh" The literal historicity of this event and its primary importance in human life are confirmed by both the Apostle Paul (Ephesians 5:30-31) and the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 19:3-9; Mark 10:2-12). Although men and women through the ages have corrupted this divine institution in many ways (adultery, divorce, polygamy, homosexuality, etc.) "from the beginning it was not so" (Matthew 19:8). The institution of the home is the first and most basic human institution and was intended to be monogamous and permanent until death. It is significant that cultures of all times and sorts have acknowledged the superiority of monogamy, even though they have not always practiced it. Such an awareness could not be a product of evolution since it does not characterize most animals, and thus can only be explained in terms of this primeval creation and revelation. Furthermore, the fact that it took place at the very beginning of creation, rather than billions of years after the beginning, was confirmed by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (Mark 10:6).

2:25 "not ashamed" The lack of shame at nakedness was not because of a hardened conscience, as is true today, but because the physiological differences of Adam and Eve had been divinely created in accordance with God’s purpose. They had been brought together by God with the express commandment to "be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28). At this time they were still without sin and thus without consciousness of moral guilt. Later, however, their sin brought an awareness that the springs of human life had been poisoned, both in themselves and in their progeny. This discovery made them painfully aware of their reproductive organs, and they were then "ashamed."

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IV. The Bible, The Fall, and Science:

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said,
                  Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
            3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden
            3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
            3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
            3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
            3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of
                  the fruit  thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Dr. Morris:
3:1 "serpent" The "serpent" was not merely a talking snake, but was Satan himself (Revelation 12:9; 20:2) possessing and using the serpent’s body to deceive Eve. Satan had been originally "created" (see notes on Ezekiel 28:14,15) as the highest of all angels, the anointed cherub covering the very throne of God in heaven. He, along with all the angels, had been created to be "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation" (Hebrews 1:14). Not content with a role inferior in two important respects to man (angels were not created in God’s image, nor could they reproduce after their kind, there being no female angels), Satan led a third of the angels (Revelation 12:4,9) to rebel against God, seeking to become God himself. Evidently, he did not really believe that God was the omnipotent Creator, but rather that all had evolved from the primeval chaos (probably the explanation for the widespread ancient pagan belief that the world began in a state of watery chaos). God, therefore, "cast thee to the ground" (Ezekiel 28:17), allowing Satan to tempt the very ones he had been created to serve.

3:1 "subtil" The physical serpent was clever, and possibly originally able to stand upright, eye-to-eye with man, (the Hebrew word is nachash, possibly originally meaning a shining, upright creature).

3:1 "he said" Some of the animals may have originally been able to communicate on an elementary level with their human masters, an ability later removed by the Curse. More likely, God allowed Satan to use the serpent’s throat (as He later allowed Balaam’s ass to speak - Numbers 22:28) and Eve was, in her innocence, not yet aware of the strangeness of it.

3:1 "hath God said" The root of all sin is doubting God’s Word, Satan was successful in this approach even with one who had never sinned before and who had no sin-nature inclining her to sin. Satan merely i8mplanted a slight doubt concerning God’s veracity and His sovereign goodness. The approach so successful in this case has provided the pattern for his temptations ever since.

3:3 "touch it" Eve, in her developing resentment against God, fell into Satan’s trap, both taking away from God’s Word and adding to it. God had said they could "freely eat" of "every tree" (Genesis 2:16); Eve quoted him as saying they could eat of the trees. God had said they should not eat of the fruit of one tree; Eve added the statement that they should not even touch it. These are the very sins God warned about after His written Word was finally completed (Revelation 22:18,19). Doubting God’s Word, augmenting, then diluting, and finally rejecting God’s Word - this was Satan’s temptation and Eve’s sin, and this is the common sequence of apostasy even today.

3:5 "be as gods" Satan’s sin led him to desire to be as God, and this was the desire he placed in Eve’s mind (see notes on Isaiah 14:13,14). In fact, when one questions or changes the Word of God, he is, for all practical purposes, making himself to be "god."

3:5 "knowing good and evil" Satan’s deceptions are always most effective when they have some truth in them. Through eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve would indeed come to "know good and evil," but not "as gods."

3:6 "make one wise" The threefold temptation, appealing to body ("good for food"), soul ("pleasant to the eyes") and spirit ("make one wise"), was the same by which Satan appealed to Christ in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-12), and against which Christians are warned in I John 2:16 ("the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life").

3:6 "he did eat" It was at this point that "by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin" (Romans 5:12). There could have been no death in the world before man brought sin into the world. Thus, the fossils in the earth’s crust cannot be a record of the evolution of life leading up to man but must be a record of death after man. In the evolutionary scenario, struggle and death in the animal kingdom eventually, after a billion years, brought man into the world. The truth is, however, that man brought death into his whole dominion by his sin.

Genesis 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked: Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
3:12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent begiled me, and I did eat.

Dr. Morris:
3:7 "naked" The sudden recognition of their nakedness indicates the realization that their descendants, as well as themselves, would suffer the effects of this original sin. The ability and instruction to be fruitful, given by God as a unique blessing, now would also convey the Curse of sin and death, Adam was the federal head of the human race, and it was "through the offence of one many be dead" (Romans 5:15).

3:7 "fig leaves" The hasty fabrication of fig leaf aprons might conceal their procreative organs from each other, but could hardly hide their sin from God. Neither will the "filthy rags" of self-made "righteousness" (Isaiah 64:6) cover sinful hearts today. The "garments of salvation" and the "robe of righteousness" (Isaiah 61:10) can be provided only by God, just as God provided "coats of skins" for Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21).

3:8 "walking in the garden" This is not a crude anthropomorphism, but an actual theophany. The "Word of God," Christ in His preincarnate state, regularly appeared in the garden for fellowship and communication with His people. How long this period of fellowship had endured is not stated, but it was long enough for the Satanic rebellion in heaven and expulsion to earth. Since it was not long enough for Eve to conceive children, however, and since she and Adam had been instructed by God to do so, it was probably not more than a few days or weeks.

3:10 "hid myself" The shame associated with nudity is no artificial inhibition of civilization, but has its source in this primeval awareness of sin. It is only lost when consciences are so hardened as to lose sensitivity to sin. Clothing is even worn in heaven (Revelation 1:13; 19:14).

3:11 "Hast thou eaten" God’s questions were not to obtain information but to encourage Adam and Eve to confess their sin. Instead of repentance, however, they responded by feeble attempts at self-justification, each blaming someone else. In this, they behaved like most of their descendants.
 

Genesis 3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
3:16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast harkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
3:18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Dr. Morris:
3:14 "cursed above all cattle" God’s Curse fell first on the Serpent, representing man’s great enemy the devil, as a perpetual reminder to man of his fall. All other animals were also placed under the Curse but the Serpent was cursed above all others, becoming a universal object of dread and loathing, Whatever may have been its original posture, it would henceforth glide on its belly, eating its prey directly off the ground and covered with the dust of the earth.

3:15 "enmity between thee" This verse is famous as the Protevangel ("First Gospel"). The Curse was directed immediately toward the Serpent, but its real thrust was against the evil spirit possessing its body, "that old serpent called the devil" (Revelation 12:9). Satan may have assumed he had now won the allegiance of the woman and all her descendants, but God told him there would be enmity between him and the woman.

3:15 "her seed" The "seed of the woman" can only be an allusion to a future descendant of Eve who would have no human father. Biologically, a woman produces no seed, and except in this case Biblical usage always speaks only of the seed of men. This promised Seed would, therefore, have to be miraculously implanted in the womb. In this way, He would not inherit the sin nature which would disqualify every son of Adam from becoming a Savior from sin. This prophecy thus clearly anticipates the future virgin birth of Christ.

3:15 "bruise thy head" Satan will inflict a painful wound on the woman’s Seed, but Christ in turn will inflict a mortal wound on the Serpent, crushing his head. This prophecy was fulfilled in the first instance at the cross, but will culminate when the triumphant Christ casts Satan into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10).

3:15 "bruise his heel" This primeval prophecy made such a profound impression on Adam’s descendants that it was incorporated, with varying degrees of distortion and embellishment, in all the legends, mythologies and astrologies of the ancients since they are filled with tales of mighty heroes engaged in life-and-death struggles with dragons and other monsters. Mankind, from the earliest ages, has recorded its hope that someday a Savior would come who would destroy the devil and reconcile man to God.

3:16 "multiply thy sorrow" Had Eve not sinned, the experience of childbirth would have been easy and pleasant, like every other experience in the perfect world God had made. The Curse, however, fell in a peculiar way on Eve and her daughters, and the pain and sorrow of conception and birth would be greatly multiplied.

Nevertheless, the bearing of children, especially by a woman who loves God and seeks to obey Him, is a time of blessing and rejoicing even though accompanied by a time of suffering (John 16:21). In the experience of giving birth, every woman experiences by proxy, the privilege granted Mary when she became the mother of the promised Seed. Furthermore, she even becomes a type of Christ, who "shall see his seed ... he shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied" (Isaiah 53:10,11). The suffering is submerged in the rejoicing, and this in itself goes far toward mitigating the physical pain (I Timothy 2:15).

3:16 "rule over thee" She who had acted independently of her husband in her desire for the forbidden fruit must henceforth exercise her desires through her husband, and he would be ruler in the family.
    To the woman who knows God, however, especially in the full light of Christianity, her role of submission to God and to her husband becomes her means of greatest fulfillment and happiness. The "rule" of a true Christian husband is not one of harshness and subjugation, but one of living companionship and caring responsibility (Colossians 3:18-21; ephesians 5:22-33; I Peter 3:1-7; etc.)

3:17 "unto Adam" The full force of the Curse fell on Adam, as the responsible head of the human race, and on all his dominion. Instead of believing God’s Word, Adam had "harkened to the voice of his wife," and she had been beguiled by the voice of the serpent. It is always a fatal mistake to allow the words of any creature to take precedence over the Word of God.

3:17 "cursed is the ground" The "ground" is the same word as "earth". The very elements of matter, out of which all things had been made, were included in the curse so that the "whole creation" (Romans 8:22) was brought under bondage to a universal principle of "corruption" (literally "decay" - Romans 8:21). That is, all things had been built up by God from the basic elements of matter ("the dust of the earth"), but now they would all begin to decay back to the dust again. The curse evidently applies to the entire physical cosmos, as well as to planet Earth, though it is possible that the decay principle operating in the stars and the other planets may relate also to the prior sin of the angelic host of heaven.

3:17 "for thy sake" The Curse was not only a punishment for man’s disobedience but also a provision for man’s good, forcing him to recognize the seriousness of his sin, and realize the folly of trusting anyone but his Creator. This showed man’s inability to save himself from destruction which would encourage him to a state of true repentance toward God and trust in God to save him.
    Analogously, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which is the modern scientific statement of this decay principle (see notes on Genesis 1:1), though pointing toward an ultimate death of the universe at the same time points back to a primeval creation and therefore compels men to look toward the Creator as the only possible Savior.

3:18 "thistles" It seems unlikely that God actually created "thorns also and thistles" at this time. More probably, He allowed the beneficent processes and structures He had made previously, all of which were very good initially, to deteriorate in varying degrees, some even becoming harmful to man and to each other.
    There exists now a host of systems in nature (disease, bacteria, viruses, parasites, fangs and claws, weeds and poisons, etc.) which reflect a state of conflict, predation, and struggle for existence in the plant and animal kingdoms, as well as in human life, all of which seems, at first, to be inconsistent with the concept of an ideal creation. In the physical world there are storms and earthquakes, extremes of heat and cold, weathering and disintegration, and many other unpleasant phenomena. There is still need for research to understand the mechanisms by which this change of state from the perfect creation was brought about.
    In plants and animals, beneficent structures may either have mutated to malevolent structures or else have been replaced through natural selection by recessive characteristics, coded into the genetic system by God at the time of creation in anticipation of the future environmental changes that might be necessitated if Adam used his freedom wrongfully.
    These systems and processes now maintain a balance of nature and so are indirectly beneficial in maintaining life on a cursed earth, even though individual organisms all eventually die. Had the Fall and Curse not taken place, populations would probably have eventually been stabilized at optimum values by divine constraints on the reproductive process. With God’s personal presence withdrawn for a time, it is more salutary to maintain order by these indirect constraints associated with the Curse than with direct action by God.

3:19 "sweat of thy face" The Curse on Adam had four main aspects:

(1) sorrow, because of the futility of endless struggle against a hostile environment;

(2) pain, signified by the thorns;

(3) sweat, or tears, the "strong crying" (Hebrews 5:7) occasioned by the labor necessary to maintain life and hope; and

(4) eventual physical death in spite of all his efforts, returning back to the dust.

But Christ, as the second Adam, has borne the Curse for us (Galatians 3:13): as the "man of sorrows" (Isaiah 53:3), wearing the thorns and suffering the greatest pain (Mark 15:17), accompanied by strong crying (Hebrews 5:7) to sweat drops of blood before being finally brought into the dust of death (Psalm 22:15). Because He so suffered for us, someday God will dwell with men, and "there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain" (Revelation 21:4). Indeed "there shall be no more curse" (Revelation 22:3).

3:19 "dust thou art" The Curse thus applies to man and woman, the animals, and the physical elements: God’s whole creation. It is so universal as to have been discovered and recognized empirically as a general scientific law, the law of increasing entropy ("in-turning"). This famous Second Law of Thermodynamics is sometimes also called the law of morpholysis ("loosing of structure"). It expresses the universal tendency for systems to decay and become disordered, for energy to be converted into forms unavailable for further work, for information to become confused, for the new to become worn, for the young to become old, for the living to die, even for whole species to become extinct.
    One of the most amazing anomalies of human thought is the concept of evolution, which has never been observed in action scientifically and is exactly the opposite of the universally proven scientific principle of increasing entropy. This theory is nevertheless believed to be the most fundamental principle of nature by almost the entire intellectual establishment.
 

Genesis 3:20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
3:23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Dr. Morris:
3:20 "Eve" Eve means life, and her name indicates Adam’s faith in God’s promise that the woman would bear a Seed. Even though he realized he was going to die, Adam still believed that God would provide life. He had disobeyed God’s Word by partaking of his wife’s forbidden fruit; now he believed God’s Word centered on his wife’s fruitfulness. Since true faith is always accompanied by repentance, it is evident that Adam had turned away from Satan and back to God. No doubt Eve had done the same, desiring now to follow her husband instead of leading him.

3:21 "all living" There were no children at this time, so this statement is apparently an editorial insertion by Moses, testifying that all mankind had descended from Adam and Eve. There were no pre-Adamite men (compare I Corinthians 15:45, speaking of "the first man Adam"), nor were there any pre-Fall children, since "in Adam all die" (I Corinthians 15:22).

3:21 "coats of skin" This action is very instructive in several ways:
(1) God considers clothing so vital in this present world that He himself provided it for our first parents;
(2) the aprons fashioned by Adam and Eve were inadequate, testifying in effect that man-made efforts to prepare for God’s presence will be rejected;
(3) the clothing provided by God requires shedding the blood of two animals, probably two sheep. They were thus the first creatures actually to suffer death after Adam’s sin, illustrating the basic Biblical principle of substitutionary atonement or "covering" which required the shedding of innocent blood as a condition of forgiveness for the sinner.

3:22 "as one of us" Once again there is a divine council of the Godhead; this time it is to decree man’s expulsion from the garden. Man’s ultimate restoration requires his full instruction in the effects of sin and separation from God.

3:22 "live for ever" The fruit of the tree of life will be freely available to all in the new earth (Revelation 2:7; 22:1,2).

3:23 "sent him forth" Evidently, Adam and Eve were reluctant to leave their beautiful garden home and God’s personal fellowship, but it was for their own good, and God finally "drove out" those whom He loved (Genesis 3:24).

3:24 "Cherubims" The cherubim are apparently the highest beings in the hierarchy of angels, always associated with the immediate presence of God (Psalm 18:10; 80:1; 99:1; Ezekiel 1:4-28; 10:1-22; Revelation 4:6-8; etc.). Satan himself had once been the "anointed cherub" on God’s holy mountain (Ezekiel 28:14). The appointment of the cherubim to keep (or guard) the way to the tree of life with swordlike tongues of flame, suggests that God’s personal presence continued to be associated with the garden and the tree. By analogy with the representations of the cherubim in the holy of holies in the tabernacle (Exodus 25:17-22; Hebrews 9:3-5), it may be that God continued to meet at stipulated intervals with his people at the entrance to the garden (see notes on Genesis 4:3-5).

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V. The Bible, The Flood, and Science:

Genesis 6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

Dr. Morris:
6:1 "multiply" God had commanded Adam and Eve to "multiply" (Genesis 1:28). With each man and woman enjoying hundreds of years of parental productivity plus almost ideal environmental and climatological conditions, the earth could well have been "filled" with people long before the Flood. For example, an initial population of two people, increasing at the rate of 2% annually (estimated to be the annual growth rate at present) would generate a population of well over ten trillion people in 1,656 years (the time span from Adam to the Flood).

6:2 "sons of God" The identity of these "sons of God" has been a matter of much discussion, but the obvious meaning is that they were angelic beings. This was the uniform interpretation of the ancient Jews, who translated the phrase as "angels of God" in their Septuagint translation of the Old Testament. The apocryphal books of Enoch elaborate this interpretation, which is also strongly implied by the New Testament passages Jude 6; II Peter 2:4-6; I Peter 3:19,20.
    The Hebrew phrase is bene elohim, which occurs elsewhere only in Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7. In these three explicitly parallel usages, the contextual meaning can be nothing except that of angels. A similar phrase bar elohim, occurs in Daniel 3:25, and another, bar elim, occurs in Psalm 29:1 and Psalm 89:6. All of these also refer explicitly to angels. The intent of the writer of Genesis 6 (probably Noah) was clearly that of introducing a monstrous irruption of demonic forces on the earth, leading to universal corruption and eventual judgment.

6:2 "took them wives" The "taking" of these women most likely refers to fallen angels, or demons, "possessing" their bodies. The word "wives" (Hebrew ishshah) is better translated "women". There is no necessary intimation of actual marriage involved. By this time in history, anarchism and amorality were so widespread that these demons were easily able to take possession of the bodies of multitudes of ungodly men; these in turn engaged in promiscuous sex with demon-possessed women, with a resulting rapid population growth. Satan perhaps hoped to generate a vast army of human recruits to his rebellion and also to thwart the coming of God’s promised Seed by corrupting all flesh.

6:3 "My spirit" One of the ministries of God’s Holy Spirit has always been to convict man’s spirit of "sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" (John 16:8). Man is also "flesh", however, and there is perpetual conflict between the flesh and the spirit, even in the life of a believer (Roman 8:5; Galatians 5:16,17).
God is longsuffering with respect to man’s rebellion, but only for a time; the hour of His judgment must eventually arrive.

6:3 "hundred and twenty years" This prophecy was apparently given, perhaps through Methuselah, just 120 years before the coming Flood. The prophet Enoch had already been translated. Shem, Ham and Japheth had not yet been born and God’s specific commands to Noah (Genesis 5:32; 6:10,13,21) had not yet been given.

6:4 "giants" These "giants" were the monstrous progeny of the demon-possessed men and women whose illicit activities led to God’s warning of imminent judgment. The Hebrew word is nephilim ("fallen ones"), a term possibly relating to the nature of their spiritual "parents," the fallen angels. That they were also physical giants is evident from the fact that the same word is later used in connection with the giants in Canaan at the time of Joshua (Numbers 13:13) and by the fact that the word here was translated in the Septuagint by the Greek word gigantes.

6:4 "also after that" "After that" clearly refers to Numbers 13:33 and probably represents an editorial insertion in Noah’s record by Moses. These giants in Canaan may also have had demonically-controlled parents; they were also known as the Anakim, the sons of Anak.

6:4 "daughters of men" The idea that these "daughters of men" were actually descendants of Cain, and the "sons of God" descendants of Seth has been a widely held Christian naturalistic interpretation. This was not the intended meaning of the writer, however, who could certainly have written that the male descendants of Seth began to take wives from the daughters of Cain if that were his meaning. The descendants of Seth were not "sons of God" (most of them perished in the Flood) and the female descendants of both Cain and Seth were certainly "daughters of men" (literally, daughters of Adam). Besides, Adam had many other sons in addition to Cain and Seth. Further, even though intermarriage between believers and unbelievers is wrong, it could not in itself have produced universal wickedness and violence.

6:4 "men of renown" The antediluvian giants had, by the time of Moses, become renowned heroes of antiquity, as far as the world was concerned. They, like their parents, were probably demon-controlled. Their gigantic stature was engineered by genetic manipulations. They could not have been demi-gods (half man, half "god"), however, as ancient mythology claims, since such imaginary beings are beyond the pale of God’s creative purposes. Fallen angels are not prospects for salvation whereas fallen men and women are. A half-angel, half-human being would be an impossible anomaly in terms of soteriology. The only apparent solution to all the problems posed by these verses is demon possession of both parents and progeny, not demonic marriage or procreation.

Genesis 6:5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6:6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
6:7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

Dr. Morris:
6:5 "only evil continually" Universal wickedness requires a universal cause adequate to produce it. Nothing less than a worldwide influx of demonic control seems adequate to explain it.

6:6 "his heart" The first mention of the word "heart" occurs here, connecting the evil in man’s heart with grief in God’s heart. This figure occurs often in Scripture, the "heart" representing the deepest seat of one’s emotions and decisions.

6:7 "repenteth me" The apparent contradiction involved in the Biblical record of God "repenting" when the Bible also says God does not repent (contrast I Samuel 15:11 and 15:29) is resolved in terms of man’s viewpoint versus God’s viewpoint. To "repent" means to "change the mind." God cannot repent, since He cannot change His mind concerning evil. He seems to repent, when man changes his mind concerning evil. God’s attitude toward man is conditioned by man’s attitude toward Him. It is because God does not repent that He must seem to repent when man "changes his mind."

Genesis 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
6:9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
6:10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Dr. Morris:
6:8 "found grace" This is the first mention of "grace" in the Bible; the first mention in the New Testament is Luke 1:30, where Mary "found favor" (same word as "grace") with God. God’s grace is found, not earned. Note the consistent Biblical order here: Noah found grace, then he was a justified, righteous man, finally becoming perfect (complete or mature) in his relation to both God and man, and ultimately walking with God in a life of total faith and fellowship.

6:9 "generation of Noah" This seems to be Noah’s signature concluding his personal record (Genesis 5:29-6:9a). It is significant that his last word emphasizes only that he was being saved from a sinful world by the grace of God.

6:9 "perfect in his generations" It is likewise significant that the first sentence of the toledoth of Noah’s sons (note Genesis 10:1) stresses the godliness of their father. Noah is an outstanding example of parental example and guidance. His sons were saved on the ark because of his own righteousness (Genesis 7:1).

Genesis 6:11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
6:12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
6:13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Dr. Morris:
6:11 "filled with violence" In order to be "filled" with violence, the earth by this time had become filled with people.

6:12 "all flesh" Since "all flesh," as destroyed in the flood, included animals (Genesis 7:21), some have suggested that animals also had "corrupted their ways" and were contributing to the worldwide violence. This is doubtful since animals do not make moral judgments. However, as a part of man’s dominion, they shared in his curse and now in the judgment of the Flood. This verse may possibly imply the development of carnivorous appetites and increasing hostility to man by the animals.

6:13 "with the earth" God did not promise to destroy man from the earth but with the earth. The physical earth-system itself, as man’s home and dominion, must share in his judgment. The Flood obviously was to be global and cataclysmic, not local or tranquil, as many modern compromising Christians have sought to interpret it.

Genesis 6:14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
6:15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
6:16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

Dr. Morris:
6:14 "pitch" The ark (an ancient Hebrew word used also for the small box in which the infant Moses floated on the Nile) was made of a hard dense wood whose species has not yet been identified; it was made waterproof, not by a bituminous pitch (a different Hebrew word) but by some as-yet-unknown "covering." The Hebrew word is kopher, equivalent to kaphar, frequently translated later as "atonement" (Leviticus 17:11). In providing a protective covering against the waters of judgment, it thus becomes a beautiful type of Christ.

6:15 "three hundred cubits" The dimensions of the ark were ideally designed for both stability and capacity. It has been shown hydrodynamically that the ark would have been practically impossible to capsize and would have been reasonably comfortable, even during violent waves and winds.
    Assuming the ancient cubit to have been only 17.5 inches (the smallest suggested by any authority), the ark could have carried as many as 125,000 sheep-sized animals. Since there are not more than about 25,000 species of land animals known (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians), either living or extinct, and since the average size of such animals is certainly much less than that of a sheep, it is obvious that all the animals could easily have been stored in less than half the capacity of Noah’s ark, each pair in appropriate "rooms" (literally "nests").

6:16 "window" The "window" was probably an opening for light and ventilation extending circumferentially around the ark with a parapet to keep out the rain. The one large door in the side was to be closed only once (after the animals were in) and opened only once (to release them a year later).

6:16 "third stories" The three decks may have been laid out as follows: large animals on the bottom; small animals and food storage on the middle deck; family quarters, possessions, records, etc. on the top deck. Water could have been stored in cisterns on the roof and piped throughout the ark where needed. Overhead water storage could also have provided fluid pressure for various other uses.
 

Genesis 6:17 And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
6:18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy son’ wives with thee.
6:19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
6:20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
6:21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
6:22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

Dr. Morris:
6:17 "a flood" The "flood" (Hebrew mabbul) was a unique event. Various other words were used in Scripture for local floods. The mabbul was the Flood.

6:17 "every thing that is in the earth" The purpose of the Flood - to destroy all flesh - could only have been accomplished by a worldwide deluge. The idea of a local flood is merely a frivolous conceit of Christians seeking to avoid imagined geological difficulties. Although many marine organisms would perish in the upheavels everything in the earth ("on the land") would die.

6:19 "two of every sort" Two of each kind of bird, cattle, and creeping thing (the "beasts" are also included in Genesis 7:14) were to be put on the ark. Again, marine animals are omitted, as representatives of their kinds could survive outside the ark. Note that the animals were to "come unto thee". God directed to the ark, by a miraculous selection processes, those animals who possed the necessary genes for instincts which would be needed by their survivors in the post-Flood world. Noah did not have to gather the animals himself, but merely opened the ark to the animals God sent.

Genesis 7:1 And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
7:2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.
7:3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
7:4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
7:5 And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.
7:6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7:7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
7:8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
7:9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
7:10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.

Dr. Morris:
7:2 "by sevens" The "clean" kinds of beasts and birds were those suitable for domestication and a form of fellowship with man, as well as for sacrificial offerings. Apparently three pairs of each of these were preserved in order to allow for wider variation in breeding after the Flood. The seventh was offered by Noah in sacrifice when they left the ark (Genesis 8:20).

7:3 "keep seed alive" God’s purpose for the ark was to "keep seed alive" in the earth, a statement meaningful only in the context of a universal flood. The ark was far too large to accommodate merely a local or regional fauna. In fact, if the Flood were only local, the ark would not have been needed at all. Noah’s family, as well as the birds and beasts, could far more easily have simply migrated away from the region to be flooded.

7:4 "seven days" This seven-day period of final warning and preparation marks the first of many references to seven-day intervals during the Flood year. This fact makes it obvious that the practice of measuring time in seven-day weeks had been in effect throughout the period between the creation week and the Flood.

7:4 "forty days" A worldwide rain lasting forty days would be impossible under present meterologic conditions. The condensation of the antediluvian vapor canopy, the "waters above the firmament," (Genesis 1:6-8) is the only adequate explanation.

7:4 "every living substance" Includes the plant life on the land. All the lush vegetation of the pre-Flood world was to be uprooted, transported and buried in great sedimentary beds, many of which would eventually become the world’s coal beds.

Genesis 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
7:12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

Dr. Morris:
7:11 "seventeenth day" The exact date of the Flood’s onset must have been noted for some reason. The ark landed on the mountains of Ararat exactly 150 days or five months later (Genesis 8:3,4). The implication is that the primeval year contained twelve months of thirty days each (Revelation 11:2,3).

7:11 "fountains of the great deep" The physical cause of the Flood is clearly identified as the eruption of the waters in the "great deep" and the opening of the "windows of heaven." These are quite sufficient in themselves to explain all the phenomena of the Flood. The antediluvian hydrologic cycle was apparently controlled by a system of subterranean pressurized reservoirs and conduits, but these fountains were all cleaved open in one day, releasing tremendous quantities of water and magma to the earth’s surface and dust and gas into the atmosphere. The resulting combination of atmospheric turbulence and dust nuclei of condensation was probably the immediate cause of the precipitation of the vapor canopy. The cataclysmic restoration of the primeval deep which resulted left the antediluvian world completely devastated.

Genesis 7:13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
7:14 They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.
7:15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
7:16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.

Dr. Morris:
7:15 "two of all flesh" Two of every kind of land animal entered the ark, including those animals (for example, dinosaurs) that have become extinct in the millennia, following the Flood. The animals were all young animals, since they would have to spend the year in the ark without reproducing and then emerge to repopulate the earth after the Flood. The animals entering the ark possessed genes for the remarkable physiologic abilities of migration and hibernation. These were not needed in the equable climates of the primeval world, but would be vital for survival in the post-Flood world. After being installed in their respective "rooms" in the ark, and after a good meal, most of them probably spent most of the Flood year in a state of hibernation.

Genesis 7:17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.
7:18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
7:19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
7:20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
7:21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
7:22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
7:23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
7:24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.

Dr. Morris:
7:17 "bare up the ark" The ark was thirty cubits high and, when loaded, probably had a draft of almost fifteen cubits. As soon as the water rose to a level of fifteen cubits above the platform on which it had been constructed, it would begin to float.

7:18 "prevailed" The word "prevailed" in the original Hebrew conveys the meaning, "were overwhelmingly mighty." Not only would all land animals eventually drown, but the plant covering would be uprooted and rafted away, the soils eroded and finally even the mountains and hills washed away.
    In the sea depths, the eruption of the fountains of the great deep would also profoundly affect marine life. Great quantities of magma, metals and other materials were extruded from the earth’s mantle. The sediments from the lands were transported down to be deposited in the encroaching sea basins.
    Complex hydrodynamic phenomena - tsunamis, vortices, turbidity flows, cyclic erosion and deposition, and a variety of geomorphologic activity - took place throughout the year.
    Earth movements of great magnitude and tremendous volcanic explosions shook the earth again and again, until finally, "the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished" (II Peter 3:6).

7:18 "face of the waters" The occupants of the ark, unaware of the convulsions in the depths below, rode safely and in comparative comfort, steered by God’s unseen hand away from the zones of hydrodynamic violence.

7:19 "all the high hills" The double superlative precludes the use of "all" in a relative sense here. The obvious intent of the writer was to describe
a universal inundation.

7:20 "mountains" The words "high hills" and "mountains" are the same in the original Hebrew. The waters were 15 cubits (22.5 feet) above the highest mountains, patently including Mount Ararat, which is now 17,000 feet high. In the "local-flood" theory, Mt. Ararat would have had the same elevation before and after the flood, but it is obvious that a 17,000 foot flood is not a local flood.

7:21 "moved upon the earth" "All flesh" died that moved on land. In a local flood, at least most of the animals (certainly all the birds) would escape to higher ground.

7:22 "breath of life" The "breath (Hebrew neshamah) of life" is clearly stated here to be a component of animal life as well as human life. Thus animals possess "spirit," but not the "image of God."

7:23 "every living substance" The rocks of the earth’s crust now contain the fossil remains of unnumbered billions of plants and animals, buried in water-transported sediments which quickly become lithified.
    This "geologic column" has been grossly distorted by evolutionists into the record of an imagined 3-billion-year history of evolution during the geological ages. Actually, it represents the deposits of the cataclysmic Flood with the fossil order primarily depicting the relative elevations of the habitats - and therefore the usual order of sedimmentary burial in the Flood - of the organisms of the pre-Flood world.
    Many modern geologists are again admitting the necessity of catastrophic formation and burial to explain the fossiliferous rocks in the geologic column.
    The reason why very few fossil men (also few fossilized flying birds) are found in the rocks is their high mobility and ability to escape burial in sediments. When eventually drowned, their bodies would remain on the surface until they decayed.

7:24 "prevailed" This is the third emphasis on the waters "prevailing" (Genesis 7:18, 19, 24). This highest intensity of flood action continued for five months.
 

Genesis 8:1 And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;
8:2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
8:3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
8:4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

Dr. Morris:
8:1 "a wind" The uniform temperatures of the pre-Flood would have prevented the great atmospheric circulations that now prevail, so that significant wind movements were impossible. With the almost complete precipitation of the waters in the primeval canopy, after 150 days the latitudinal temperature differentials were soon functioning to initiate tremendous winds all over the earth. These winds, blowing on a shoreless ocean, would certainly generate gigantic surface waves and tidal surges. The latter, superimposed on all the other hydrodynamic and geophysical forces at work, evidently served as the critical factor to trigger great tectronic forces that eventually would restore at least partial equilibrium to the disturbed surface of the earth. The earth’s crust was in a highly unstable condition, with the tremendous subterranean reservoirs now emptied of their pressurized waters and with vast depths of light sediments piling up in the antediluvian sea basins.

8:1 "assuaged" As a result of the water subsiding, the phenomena described in Psalm 104:6-9 began to take place. The earth’s crust collapsed deep into the previous subterranean reservoir chambers, forming the present ocean basins and causing further extrusions of magmas around their peripheries and through opening in their floors.
    The light sediments in the sea troughs were forced upward by isostatic readjustment to form mountain ranges and plateaus. Thus the waters originally stored in the vapor canopy and the subterranean chambers are now stored mainly in the present ocean basins (these waters would be sufficient to cover a "smoothed" earth to a depth of almost two miles) after the vast topographic adjustments that followed the Flood.

8:3 "continually" This expression, to some degree, suggests a cyclic tidal action, but especially connotes rapid subsidence and drainage. It is significant that all the world’s oceans bear evidence (sea mounts, submarine canyons, etc.) of former lower levels and that all the world’s continental drainage systems (rivers, lakes) bear evidence of former higher water levels and quantities of flow (old raised river terraces and lake beaches, vast alluvial valleys and "underfit" streams). These worldwide evidences clearly picture a world in the process of emerging from a recent global inundation.

8:4 "seventeenth day of the month" This "resting" of the ark, after protecting its precious cargo against the terrible cataclysm for five long months, occurred exactly 150 days after the Flood began. It may be significant that on the anniversary of this date many years later, Jesus Christ rose from the dead. The seventh month of the civil year used by the Jews (almost certainly the calendar used in the Flood narrative) was later set as the first month of their religious year.
    The Passover was on the fourteenth day of the first month, and Christ rose three days after the Passover. Thus, He "rested" in Joseph’s tomb and then rose from the dead on the seventeenth day of the seventh month of the civil calendar.

8:4 "mountains of Ararat" "Ararat" in the Bible is the same as "Armenia." The "mountains of Ararat" could apply to the entire region; however, the present Mount Ararat, 17,000 feet high, is the only logical site for the ark to rest. The ark landed the very day the waters began to assuage, and it was another 2 1/2 months until the tops of nearby mountains could even be seen. Furthermore, there have been many reported sightings of the ark, seemingly still preserved on an almost inaccessible ledge and most of the time encased in the stationary ice cap near its summit. Though none of these reports are sufficiently documented to constitute proof, the very number and variety of them is at least intriguing evidence that the ark has been divinely preserved, awaiting God’s timing for its confirmed discovery and manifestation.
    Mount Ararat is a volcanic mountain, formed evidently during the early months of the Flood year (there were no volcanoes before the Flood). There is also considerable geological evidence that it was further uplifted sometime after the Flood, so that it may well have been much lower and easier to access during the years immediately following the Flood. That even the summit of Ararat was at one time under water, however, is evident both from the marine fossils that have been found there and the extensive pillow lavas (lavas formed under high hydrostatic pressure) which exist there.
 

Genesis 8:5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.
8:6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
8:7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
8:8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
8:9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth; then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him unto the ark.
8:10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
8:11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

Dr. Morris:
8:7 "raven" The raven, a hardy flier and carrion eater, could survive indefinitely even before there was much dry land. The dove, however, required fresh plant material and dry ground.

8:10 "other seven days" The frequent references to "seven days" in the flood account, plus the fact that Noah left the ark 371 days (fifty-three weeks) after entering it, indicates they were following a calendar based on seven-day weeks. Confined in the ark, the crew could not use the moon or stars for navigation or chronology but could, of course, count days.

8:11 "olive leaf" The olive tree is extremely hardy and can grow and thrive on almost barren, rocky slopes. The fresh olive leaf plucked by the dove proved the land was beginning to produce a vegetal cover and so would seen be ready to support its human and animal residents again. Both seeds and cuttings from pre-Flood plants were abundant in the sediments of the Flood and could grow again as soon as adequate sunlight and dry land were available. Experiments have shown that seeds of a wide variety of plants will sprout even after many months of submergence in salt water. Actually, the waters of the earth changed only gradually and slightly in salinity during the Flood, certainly not so much as to prevent the survival and multiplication of all kinds of plants and marine animals after the Flood.
 

Genesis 8:12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.
8:13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.
8:14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.
8:15 And God spake unto Noah, saying,
8:16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
8:17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.
8:18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him:
8:19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

Dr. Morris:
8:17 "multiply upon the earth" This is a repetition of the Edenic command to the created animal kinds (Genesis 1:20,22). In order to do this, the animals must migrate from Ararat, each finding its proper ecological niche in the drastically changed and widely varied environments of the post-diluvian world.
    During the ice age following the Flood, land bridges existed across the Bering Strait from Siberia to Alaska and down the Malaysian Strait into New Guinea, facilitating such migrations. Also, Noah’s descendants certainly knew how to build and use boats, and some of the animals may well have been transported in this way, as well as on rafts of vegetation transported out to sea during river floods.

8:19 "out of the ark" Here it is again asserted, as clearly as could be expressed, that all the present land animals in the earth have descended from those on the ark.
 

Genesis 8:20 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
8:21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Dr. Morris:
8:20 "offered burnt offerings" Noah thus sacrificed what amounted to one-seventh of his flocks and herds of domestic animals, a real act of thanksgiving and faith on his part. The world was far more forbidding than when they had entered the ark: rugged and desolate, cold and stormy, barren and silent. However, it had been purged and cleansed of its wicked and violent inhabitants, and God had preserved His remnant through the awful cataclysm, so Noah’s sacrifice was a service of both great praise and earnest petition.

8:21 "not again curse" The promise of God, given in response to Noah’s sacrificial prayer of thanksgiving and intercession, is tremendous in scope. He would never again "curse the ground" with a worldwide curse as He had done following Adam’s sin. The Edenic curse is still in effect, of course, but there would be no other curse. Noah had, indeed, brought "comfort" to the world concerning "the ground which the Lord had cursed " (Genesis 5:29).

8:21 "every living thing" Neither would God ever again bring a worldwide cataclysm to the earth as He had with the Flood.

8:22 "remaineth" This dual promise would be kept as long as the earth existed in its probationary state, with man still in his sinful condition, his "heart evil from his youth." Eventually, the earth would be renovated and the curse removed altogether (Revelation 22:3)

8:22 "shall not cease" The principle of uniformity is here established by God for the post-Flood world. Not only would the basic laws of nature still continue (these had, of course, operated even during the Flood) but also the regular operation of its natural processes (these had been greatly intensified during the Flood).
    The basic processes of earth are its rotation on its axis and its orbital revolution around the sun. These control all annual and diurnal processes which in turn control practically all biological and geological processes.
    Absolute uniformity of the day/night cycle and the seasonal cycles assures at least general uniformity of functioning (allowing for statistical variations) of other processes.
    Thus, the principle of uniformitarianism is valid absolutely for the laws of nature ever since the imposition of God’s curse (except for special miracles) and is valid statistically for the processes of nature since the Flood.
 

Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them. Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
9:2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
9:3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
9:4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

Dr. Morris:
9:1 "replenish the earth" This is the same command given to Adam and Eve; the word "replenish," (Hebrew male), simply means "fill".

9:2 "are they delivered" In essence the primeval commission to mankind (the so-called "dominion mandate") is here reiterated to Noah and his descendants though with some emendations. Man is still to be in dominion over all other creatures and over the earth itself, even though Satan’s usurpation of that dominion must continually be recognized and rectified with God’s enablement.
    Man’s relation to the animals (except perhaps for the domestic animals not mentioned here) has been changed by God’s imposition on them of literally the "terror" of man. Their newly-developed carnivorous appetites and other abilities inimical to close contact with man, combined with their more rapid multiplication, might otherwise have resulted in man’s extermination.

9:3 "meat for you" For the first time, human beings are given divine permission to eat animal flesh. Initially, they were to have been vegetarians (Genesis 1:29).  The reason for this change was due to the greater need for animal protein in man’s diet in view of the nutrient-impoverished soils of the post-diluvian world and the much more rigorous climatic conditions.
    A second reason may have been to emphasize the great gulf between man and the animals. Evolutionary and polytheistic philosophies, then as now, had seriously blurred that distinction (Romans 1:21-25).

9:4 "the blood thereof" The profoundly scientific truth that "the life of the flesh is in the blood" (Leviticus 17:11) is here mentioned for the first time. This, as well as the other principles of the Edenic mandate and the Noahic covenant, is still in effect and should be observed by Christians especially. The blood, both in symbol and in reality, is "the life of the flesh." Thus, it is appropriate to offer in sacrifice (until the offering of Christ) but never to consume, either as food or as a religious ritual.
 

Genesis 9:5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.
9:6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
9:7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

Dr. Morris:
9:5 "will I require" If the blood of animals is to be regarded as too sacred to be eaten, since it represents the "life" (or "soul" - Hebrew nephesh) of the animal and is acceptable as a substitutinary sacrifice for man’s sins, how much more sacred is the blood of man himself. His blood represents his life and, since he alone is "in the image of God," the Creator of life, man’s blood is not even to be shed, let alone eaten. If either man or beast slays a man, that man or that animal is, judicially, to be slain himself, the reason being the divine sacredness of human life.

9:6 "blood be shed" This establishment of capital punishment, administered judicially by man, has never been changed or withdrawn. It is still God’s law today and forms the basic authorization of the institution of human government. It implies also the enactment and enforcement of regulations for those human activities (stealing, adultery) which if unrestrained, would lead to murder. It does not stipulate the form, but only the fact of government. It extends the primeval mandate by giving man the responsibility to control not only the animals but his own society also.
    The original commission had authorized the natural sciences and technologies; this new extension incorporated in God’s covenant with Noah authorizes the social sciences and their technologies (psychology, law, sociology, anthropology, political science, government, police, criminology).
    Although capital punishment is the proper prerogative of human society ("every man’s brother") as far as strict justice is concerned, mitigating circumstances (especially sincere repentance and restitution) may warrant extension of mercy in individual cases. Nevertheless, the basic right of governments to exact capital punishment as penalty for murder cannot legitimately be abrogated as far as God is concerned. This is clear even in the Christian dispensation.
    The eating of meat (I Timothy 4:3,4), the abstinence from blood (Acts 15:19,20) and the authority of the governmental sword (Romans 13:4; Acts 25:11) were reaffirmed to the early church, making it clear that the Noahic mandate still applied.

Genesis 9:8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
9:9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

Dr. Morris:
9:9 "my covenant" The Noahic covenant (Hebrew berith) is the first covenant mentioned in Scripture and is everlasting (Genesis 9:16). It applied not only to Noah and his seed (Genesis 9:9), but also to the animal kingdom (Genesis 9:10) and even to the earth itself (Genesis 9:13).
    It was unconditional, promising the age-long endurance of the post-Flood cosmos, and also reconfirming and amplifying God’s primeval commission to mankind, involving human stewardship over the earth and its inhabitants.

Genesis 9:10 And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
9:11 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
9:12 And god said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and thou and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
9:13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

Dr. Morris:
9:13 "my bow" The rainbow, requiring small water droplets in the air, could not form in the prediluvian world where the high vapor canopy precluded rain (Genesis 2:5). After the Flood, the very fact that rainfall is now possible makes a worldwide rainstorm impossible, and the rainbow "in the cloud" thereby becomes a perpetual reminder of God’s grace, even in judgment.

Genesis 9:14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
9:15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
9:16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between god and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
9:17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
9:18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
9:19 These are the three sons of Noah; and of them was the whole earth overspread.

Dr. Morris:
9:19 "whole earth overspread" This plain declaration (Genesis 10:32) leaves no possibility that any other people survived the worldwide Flood. All the world’s present peoples are descendants of Noah’s three sons and their wives. The gene pool from these six individuals (all originally from Adam and Eve) provided far more than enough genetic variational potential to account for the wide range in national and tribal characteristics which have surfaced since the Flood. The world’s present population of approximately five billion people, likewise, could easily have been developed in approximately 4000 years. An average annual growth rate of 1/2 % (only 1/4 the present rate), or an average family size of only 2.5 children per family, could easily accomplish this.

..
Genesis 10:1 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.

Dr. Morris:
10:1 "after the flood" This marks the end of the first - and only authentic - account of the great Flood, written down by the only eye-witnesses who could record it accurately, the men who experienced it and survived to tell about it. As their descendants scattered over the earth, especially after their dispersion from Babel (Genesis 11:9), they carried the story with them. However, with the changes in language and the passage of time, the story assumed different forms in the different cultures, though always still recognizable as coming from the same source. One of the earliest of the more than 300 of these "Flood legends" is the one found in Babylon itself, the famous Gilgamesh Epic.

...
Genesis 10:18 ... and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.

Dr. Morris:
10:18 "spread abroad" This statement becomes especially significant if, as intimated above, the descendants of Canaan include the Mongol peoples, who eventually spread not only throughout most of Asia but also across the Bering Strait into North and South America, becoming the American Indians.

...
Genesis 10:20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries and in their nations.

Dr. Morris:
10:20 "in their nations" The division of the original population into "nations" was both "after their tongues" and "after their families," suggesting that each family living at Babel was given a distinctive tongue at the dispersion.

...
Genesis 10:25 And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; ...

Dr. Morris:
10:25 "the earth divided" The "division," that took place was, most likely, the traumatic upheaval at Babel. A division in Genesis 10:5,32 is mentioned, where the division is "after his tongue." Nimrod was in the same generation as Eber, and this is the only place in the Table of Nations where the meaning of a son’s name is given, indicating the importance of the event it commemorated. However, it is true that two different words are used (Pelag in Genesis 10:25, parad in Genesis 10:5,32). Although the two words are essentially synonymous, this might indicate a different type of division.
    Many Bible teachers have suggested, therefore, that Genesis 10:25 might refer to a splitting of the single post-Flood continent into the present continents of the world. They associate the modern scientific model of sea-floor spreading and continental drifting with Genesis 10:25. It should be remembered, however, that the continental drift hypothesis has by no means been proved, and the verse seems to refer more directly to the division into families, countries and languages.
    Furthermore, even if the continents have separated from a single primeval continent, such a split more likely would have occurred in connection with the continental uplifts terminating the global deluge (Psalm 104:6-9)

...
Genesis 10:31 These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.
10:32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

Dr. Morris:
10:31 "after their nations" This concludes the "nations" listed in Genesis 10 - fourteen from Japheth, thirty from Ham, and twenty-six from Shem. Thus a total of seventy such primeval nations was included by Shem in his Table of Nations. All are descendants of Adam, through Noah. There is no hint anywhere in Scripture of any "hominids" or other "pre-Adamites" in man’s ancestry. The so-called "ape-men" can all be shown to be either remains of extinct apes or of true men, probably all living after the Flood.

10:32 "nations divided" The seventy nations from Noah’s three sons are the progenitors of all other nations (Genesis 9:19). These three streams of nations should not be interpreted as three races, however. The concept of race is not found in the Bible and is purely an evolutionist concept with no basis in either Scripture or true science.
    In evolutionary terminology, a race is a sub-species in the process of evolving into a new species, but the Bible speaks only of kinds.
    Where mankind is concerned, there are nations, tribes, tongues, peoples, and families, but these are not races.

Genesis 11:1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
11:2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar: and they dwelt there.
11:3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
11:5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
11:6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
11:7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
11:8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
11:9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Dr. Morris:
11:1 "one speech" Literally, "of one lip and one set of words" - that is, one phonology and one vocabulary, the same language as spoken by the antediluvians. This may well have been the Hebrew language, or some similar Semitic language since the primitive records were transmitted through Noah and Shem and since it is very unlikely that either Noah or Shem were participants in the rebellion and judgment at Babel.

11:2 "from the east" The phrase may mean "eastward." It is also possible that, as the people migrated from Ararat, they first went farther to the east, and then turned back westward until they came to the plain of Shinar (Sumer). This fertile valley so reminded them of Eden that they named its two rivers (Tigris and Euphrates) after two of the Edenic rivers.

11:2 "land of Shinar" The reference to Shinar ties back in to Genesis 10:10, reminding us that the leader of the population by this time was Nimrod, "the mighty tyrant in the face of the Lord" (Genesis 10:9).

11:2 "dwelt there" Their decision to "dwell" here in one location was in defiance of God’s command to "fill the earth" (Genesis 9:1,7). God’s design was to have a multiplicity of local governmental units (Genesis 9:5,6; Acts 17:26,27), but Nimrod purposed to establish a one-government dictatorship under himself. When Shem’s son Asshur settled in a separate location, Nimrod quickly took it over (Genesis 10:11).

11:3 "Go to" Literally, "give" - indicating a council had reached a decision concerning various possible courses of action and was now pronouncing its decision.

11:3 "for morter" The first decision was to develop a brick-making industry with kil -baked clay bricks and asphalt from the nearby pits as mortar. This would enable them to plan and develop strong, permanent buildings.

11:4 "a tower" A second council, no doubt soon after the first, reached the firm decision to stay permanently in the Babel metroplex, erecting a strong capital city with a great central tower symbolizing its unity and centralizing its culture. This tower became the prototype of all the great ziggurats (stepped towers) and pyramids of the world.

11:4 "unto heaven" The words "may reach" are not in the original. The tower was undoubtedly promoted as a great religious monument, dedicated "unto heaven." Its top would be used for worship and sacrifice, and the rank and file probably felt at first that its beauty and grandeur would honor God. Almost certainly the walls and ceiling of the shrine were emblazoned with the painted representation of "man, and...birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things" (Romans 1:23), which depicted the universal signs of the zodiac.
    This remarkable system was probably originally formulated by the antediluvian patriarchs to depict the primeval prophecies of the coming Seed of the woman and God’s ultimate victory over Satan in a permanent record in the stars themselves (see note on Genesis 1:14).
    Under Nimrod’s subtle corruption of God’s truth, however, this "gospel in the stars" was soon distorted into astrology and evolutionary pantheism, then into spiritism and polytheism, as people gradually ceased worshipping the true God of heaven and turned to "the host of heaven," the fallen angels.

11:4 "scattered abroad" The intent of the leaders of this rebellion was flagrant rejection of God’s command.

11:5 "came down" God was well aware of all that was transpiring, but was long-suffering, allowing ample time for repentance. The expression "came down" is figurative, indicating the rebellion had now gone too far and required divine intervention.

11:6 "one language" In God’s judgment, the main problem was the unity of the people; the one most effective way of thwarting unity would be to prevent communication.

11:6 "nothing will be restrained" Nimrod, with direct access to demonic intelligence and Satanic power, would be invincible without divine intervention. No doubt there was a faithful remnant (Noah, Shem), but they were helpless without God’s action.

11:7 "Go to" A council in heaven (perhaps mocking Nimrod’s councils - Psalm 2:1-4) decrees the confusion of tongues. This act is clearly supernatural, involving the divine creative power which Satan could neither duplicate nor reverse.

11:7 "confound their language" In some inexplicable manner, God altered the brain/nerve/speech apparati of the Babylonian rebels to give each family unit (possibly the seventy families of Genesis 10) its own distinctive vocabulary/phonology complex. With all this, however, they all remained truly human, unchanged in basic thought processes or moral character. Further, their distinctive languages were still sufficiently alike that they could, with time and much effort, learn to speak each other’s languages.
    For some time, however, they could no longer communicate between families and, therefore, they could no longer cooperate. They were thus forced to obey God’s earlier command to scatter abroad and to fill the earth with different nations and governmental units.

11:8 "scattered them abroad" The tower had been completed and was actively in use, but the city was still unfinished. Probably all families except that of Nimrod himself departed from Babel, leaving him the burden of developing his own tribe at Babel as best they could. These probably became the Sumerians.
    The others scattered into various regions already described in Genesis 10, some eventually developing into great civilizations.
    This account, originally written by Shem (Genesis 11:10), is reflected in a somewhat distorted form in the legends of other nations, including a tablet excavated at Ur.
    There is no better scientific theory for the origin of the various families of languages. All such theories seem to point to an origin in the Middle East.

11:9 "Babel" The Hebrew word babel means "mixed" or "confusion." It was associated by the writer with the "babble" of sounds which was the last memory held by all who scattered from the city. The word "babble" is an example of onomatopoeia, a word which imitates an actual sound, and thus is essentially the same in all languages. The name Babel, therefore, does not really mean "gate of God," as later apologists claimed, but "confusion".

11:9 "all the earth" As the people scattered, each family gradually became a tribal unit, and each had to develop its own distinctive culture as best it could. Each for a time would have to live by hunting and gathering, residing in caves or temporary shelters. The stronger families would occupy the best nearby sites (for example, the Nile valley), while others would be forced farther away.
    Although they were all familiar with the arts of agriculture, animal husbandry, ceramics, metallurgy, construction, navigation, etc. each family would require time, population growth, and discovery of sources of metals and building materials.
    They all had known how to write, but now, with a completely new speech, each tribe would need to invent an entirely new written language, and this would require still more time and ingenuity. Within a few generations, however, all these attributes of "civilization" had surfaced all over the world, even on distant continents.
    As populations grew, some tribes eventually reached into every part of the world. In some instances they traveled by land bridges (Bering Strait, Malaysian Strait) which existed for perhaps a millennium during the Ice Age which followed the Flood. In other cases, they established colonies through sea exploration (the Phoenicians for example).
    All carried essentially the same Babylonian culture and pagan religion with them, unfortunately, so that Babylon is called in the New Testament "the mother of harlots and abominations (that is, "idolatries") of the earth" (Revelation 17:5).
    At the same time, they also carried a faint remembrance of the true God and His promises, especially remembering the divine judgment of the great Flood in their traditions. Each retained knowledge of God and could see evidence of Him in both the creation and their own natures (John 1:9; Romans 1:20; 2:13-15) so they were inexcusable in their almost universal descent into the religious morass of evolutionary pantheism, astrology, spiritism, polytheism and, finally, atheistic materialism.
 

Genesis 11:10 These are the generation of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:
11:11 And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
11:12 And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and gegat Salah:
11:13 And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

Dr. Morris:
11:10 "generations of Shem" This marks the termination of Shem’s tablet. Apparently Terah (Genesis 11:27) acquired the ancient records at this point, and continued them.

11:10 "after the flood" Apparently none of Noah’s sons had children before the Flood, possibly because of the universal violence and their concentration on building the ark.

11:13 "four hundred and three years" It is obvious, by comparison of the genealogies and chronologies in Genesis 5 and 11, that the longevity of mankind began a steady decline after the Flood. Undoubtedly the vast climatological and physiographical changes caused by the Flood were the main natural causes of this. The protective vapor canopy was gone (see notes on Genesis 1:6; 7:4), the rich soils were gone; mutations were increasing in the inbreeding populations, and the general environment was much more rigorous. No doubt it was also providentially ordered that, in the post-Flood world, life-spans should settle at around seventy years of age (Psalm 90:10).
 

..
Genesis 11:16 And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg:

Dr. Morris:

11:16 "begat Peleg" If there are no genealogical gaps in Genesis 11:10-17, then the numbers add to 101 years from the Flood to birth of Peleg right after the Dispersion. In view of the longevity of the times, as well as God’s command to multiply rapidly, a quite reasonable population growth model will indicate at least 1000 mature adults on the earth at the time of the Dispersion, and possibly many times this amount.

...
Genesis 11:19 And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.

Dr. Morris:
11:19 "two hundred and nine years" There is a sudden drop in longevity here, from 464 years for Eber to 239 years for Peleg. This is the most likely spot, therefore, for a genealogical gap in the record. However, this sharp decline may also be explained by the traumatic changes in living conditions caused by the confusion of tongues and the resultant migrations and struggles. The close inbreeding since the Flood, aggravated further by the Dispersion, would also contribute to an increased mutational load carried by the population, and this would tend to further reduce the life-span. In any case, even if genealogical gaps do exist (in either Genesis 5 or Genesis 11) they could only involve a few generations at most; in no case could they be stretched sufficiently to accommodate the evolutionist’s imagined million-year history of man.
...
Genesis 11:32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.

Dr. Morris:

11:32 "died in Haran" According to Genesis 12:4, Abram left Haran for Canaan when he was 75 years old, which would have been 130 years before Terah’s death if indeed Abram had been born when Terah was 70 years old, or soon after (Genesis 11:26). Yet Stephen, in Acts 7:4, says Abram did not leave Haran until his father was dead. Probably Stephen was suggesting that Terah, though still alive physically, had "died" as far as God’s will and calling to him were concerned, using the terminology he knew Christ had used in advising a young man in a similar situation (Matthew 8:21,22). Otherwise, Abram would have to have been born when Terah was at least 130 years old - a very unlikely circumstance in view of the special miracle required for Abram himself to have a son when he was only 100. In any case, by the time of Abram’s departure, even if Terah were only 145 years of age at the time, there would have been at least 267 years since the Dispersion. This was more than adequate time for the great civilizations of the ancient world (Egypt, Babylonia, etc.) and for a large population to have developed (as much as 300 million would be a reasonably possible number by this time, though it was probably much less).
    Along with the tremendous growth of civilization and population, there was a corresponding rise in both materialism and idolatrous evolutionism, so God finally called Abram again, instructing him to delay no longer inb leaving his kindred to establish a new, God-fearing nation through which God would accomplish His purposes (Genesis 12:1-4).

Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

Dr. Morris:
12:1 "out of thy country" The call of Abram marks a critical turning point in history. Heretofore, God’s covenant with mankind (Genesis 9:8-17) applied to all men alike. With the confusion of tongues at Babel, distinct nations began to develop. Though the Noahic covenant is everlasting, it was now necessary for this to be supplemented (not replaced) by a special relation with a particular nation through which the promised Seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15) would eventually enter the human race to redeem lost mankind.

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VI.    The Bible, Dinosaurs, and Science:

Genesis 1:21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind:  and God saw that it was good.

Dr. Morris:
1:21 "great whales"  Fish and other marine organisms were created simultaneously with birds and other flying creatures, in obvious contradictiion to the sequence postulated by evolutionists.  The "moving creature" (Hebrew sherets) of Genesis 1:20 is translated elsewhere as "creeping thing," and here evidently refers to marine invertebrates and marine reptiles, as well as the fishes.  The word translated "great whales" (Hebrew tannin) is elsewhere the regular word for "dragons," and most probably refers to the great marine reptiles often called dinosaurs.

Job  40:15    Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.
       40:16    Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.
        40:17    He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.
        40:18    His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron.
        40:19    He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.
        40:20    Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play.
        40:21    He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.
        40:22    The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.
        40:23    Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.
        40:24    He taketh it with his eyes; his nose pierceth through snares.

Dr. Morris:
40:15  "behemoth"  The word "behemoth" means, simply, "huge beast", and commentators commonly take it to be either an elephant or a hippopotamus.  The subsequent description, however, fits neither of these, nor any other living animal.  On the other hand, it seems to match the probable description of a great land dinosaur, such as the tyrannosaurus.

40:17  "tail like a cedar"  No elephant or hippo has a tail like a cedar.  This description supports the theory mentioned above that a bememoth may be a dinosaur.

40:19  "chief of the ways"  The behemoth was the "chief" of all created land animals, which could only, therefore, have been one of the great land dinosaurs.  These, like all other animals, were created on the fifth and sixth days of creation week.  Seemingly, the dinosaurs had representatives preserved on Noah's ark.  Some descendants survived to and beyond Job's day, giving rise to all the traditions of dragons in various parts of the world.

40:19  "his sword"  No mere man could overcome such an animal, but God could.  As job beheld the great reptile, it might well have called to his mind the old Serpent of Eden, who was ultimately responsible for all the world's sin and suffering.  He also knew of the ancient promise of the Redeemer who would come some day to slay the Serpent.  Furthermore, he had expressed faith in that coming Redeemer (Job 19:25), and had sensed that his suffering might somehow be a trial to which God was subjecting him (Job 23:10).  Perhaps God was helping him to realize what was really going on behind the scenes in connection with his trials.

Job 41:1    Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook?  Or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?
       41:2    Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?
       41:3    Will he make many supplications unto thee?  will he speak soft words unto thee?
       41:4    Will he make a covenant with thee?  wilt thou take him for a servant for ever?
       41:5    Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or will thou bind him for thy maidens?
       41:6    Shall the companions make a banquet of him?  shall they part him among the merchants?
       41:7    Canst thou fill his skin with barbed iron? or his head with fish spears?
       41:8    Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more.
       41:9    Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?
       41:10    None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?
       41:11    Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.
       41:12    I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion.
       41:13    Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle?
       41:14    Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about.
       41:15    His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal.
       41:16    One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.
       41:17    They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.
       41:18    By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
       41:19    Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.
       41:20    Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron.
       41:21    His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.
       41:22    In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him.
       41:23    The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves: they cannot be moved.
       41:24    His heart is as firm as a stone: yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone.
       41:25    When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves.
       41:26    The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.
       41:27    He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.
       41:28    The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble.
       41:29    Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear.
       41:30    Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire.
       41:31    He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.
       41:32    He maketh a path to shine after him: one would think the deep to be hoary.
       41:33    Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.
       41:34    He beholeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.

Dr. Morris:
41:1  "leviathan"  Leviathan was evidently the greatest of the marine reptiles, or dinosaurs, something like a plesiosaur, perhaps, although modern commentators tend to call it a crocodile.  Isaiah says that leviathan was "the dragon that is in the sea" (Isaiah 27:1), and the psalmist said that leviathan "played" in the "great and wide sea" (Psalm 104: 25, 26)

41:10  "dare stir him up"  Although no man could overcome the leviathan, God could do so, just as He could overcome the behemoth.

41:21  "a flame"  Whatever the leviathan was, it was not a crocodile.  Many of the dragon legends indicate they could breath fire, and there are indications that at least certain dinosaurs may have been able to produce and expel combustible gases which, upon coming in contact with oxygen, could have ignited.

41:34  "children of pride"  Such a statement could be literally true only of Satan himself.  This concluding statement in the divine momologue seems to confirm that these two great reptiles, behemoth and leviathan, were brought to Job's attention to suggest that the great Serpent was the cause of his sufferings.  God was very able to defeat Satan.  Furthermore, if God was so careful to provide for all the animals, He surely would not forget His faithful servant Job.
 

Isaiah 27:1    In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathanthe piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

Dr. Morris:
27:1  "leviathan"  is here also called "the dragon."  The references to "leviathan" in Psalm 74:13,14; Psalm 104:26; and Job 41:1-34 make it clear that this was a real animal, probably a fearsome marine reptile, like a dinosaur.
  This passage, as well as Psalm 74:13,14, shows that the many references to "dragons" in the Bible (Hebrew tannin) must refer to great monsters, now extinct, such as dinosaurs.  Only the false idea of the supposed evolutionary ages of geology says that dinosaurs became extinct seventy million years before man evolved.

27:1  "that crooked serpent"  Leviathan, though a real animal, also symbolizes that old serpent, the devil, who will indeed be judged "in that day." first bound in the bottomless pitpit," later consigned forever to the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:2

27:1  "dragon"  The "dragon that is in the sea," actually a marine dinosaur-like reptile (called a plesiosaur today), here symbolized both Satan and the Beast of the end-times (Revelation 12:3,9; 13:12).  The Beast, the Man of sin, is energized and possessed by Satan.  Both will be destroyed "in that day."
 

Psalm 74:13    Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
          74:14    Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

Dr. Morris:
74:13  "dragons in the waters"  The mighty "dragons" in the waters, the same as "leviathan" (Job 41:1-34; Isaish 27:1) were invulnerable to human weapons (probably great marine reptiles, like dinosaurs) but were broken and buried in the mighty waters and rushing sediments of the Flood.

74:14  "meat to the people"  The "people" mentioned here may refer to the fish and other marine creatures whose habitats were overwhelmed in the Flood, but were not preserved on the ark (which contained only land animals).  The Hebrew word usually refers to human tribes but can also be used for animal flocks (Proverbs 30:25).  The carcasses of the mighty leviathans could have provided sustenance to sustain marine life through the cataclysm.
 

Psalm 104:25    So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.
          104:26    There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.

Dr. Morris:
104:26  "leviathan"  The "leviathan" was a great sea-serpent or dragon (Isaiah 27:1) almost certainly corresponding to the plesiosaurs or other marine reptiles like dinosaurs now only known as fossils.  "Playing" in the deep ocean where ships go, it obviously was not a mere crocodile, as modern commentators allege.

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VII    The Bible, Death, and Evolution:

Romans 5:12    Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men,
                        for that all have sinned:

Dr. Morris:
"by one man"      There is no warrant in the New Testament for the heretical notion that 'Adam' is simply a generic term representing the human race.  He was 'one man,' in fact 'the first man' (1 Cor. 15:45).
    There were no pre-Adamite men, as some have alleged, and certainly no population of evolving hominids becoming Adam.  In fact, Christ Himself made it clear that Adam and Eve were 'from the beginning of the creation' (Mark 10:6, quoting Genesis 1:27).  Adam was a real person, directly created and made by God, and so was Eve.
    The entire argument of Romans 5:12-21 becomes irrelevant if the Genesis record of the creation and fall of Adam did not happen just as recorded in Genesis 1-3, and this would mean there is no reality in the saving work of Christ either.  Destroying or distorting the Genesis record undermines and eventually destroys the gospel of salvation.
    Such a devastating undermining of the Christian faith is surely not warranted by the fragmentary and self-contradictory fossil evidences that have been alleged to support the notion of human evolution.

"death by sin"      Thus there was no death before sin entered the world.  The finished creation was 'very good' (Genesis 1:31), with an abundance of food and all other provisions for man and animals.  There was certainly no struggle for existence, or survival of the fittest, for every creature was created fit for its own environment.  When Adam sinned, God brought the curse of decay and death not only upon Adam but also upon all His dominion (Genesis 3:17-20; I Corinthins 15:21,22; romans 8:20-22).

Romans 5:14    Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

Dr. Morris:
"Adam to Moses"      This Adam is as real a person as Moses, and only the most extreme skeptics would dare to question the historical reality of Moses.

"had not sinned"      The only creatures in history who have not sinned like Adam (Romans 5:12) are the animals.  But death reigns over these also because of Adam's sin.  In fact, the very ground was cursed, out of which all living bodies had been made, when their God-appointed steward sinned.

"figure"      The first Adam is thus a contrasting type of the 'last Adam' (1 Cor. 15:45), the one bringing death into the world, the other bringing eternal life to the world.  This typological theme is beautifully developed in romans 5:15-21, but all this would be pointless if Adam were not uniquely the first man and the father of all other men.  In fact, God promised redemption through 'Him that was to come' at the same time He pronounced the curse on adam and his dominion (Genesis 3:15)

Romans 5:21    That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Dr. Morris:
"sin hath reigned"      Sin is seen at its worst, and God's grace and love at its best, in the death of Christ.  Sin has many faces, but it is basically the rejection of God as Creator and Savior by rejecting His word.
    Sin originated in the cosmos when Satan did this, and entered the earth when Adam did the same (Isaiah 14:13; Ezekiel 28:15; Genesis 3:14, 17; romans 5:12).
    Sin in practice is thus basically disbelief of God's Word (Romans 10:10; 14:23; John 16:9) and disobeying God's law (Romans 3:20; 5:20; I John 3:4).
    Finally, God's judgment on sinners will be based on the words of Moses (John 5:43-47) (John 5:43-47), the words of Christ (John 12:44-50) and the words of God's Book (Rev. 20:12-15; 22:18,19).

Romans 6:23    For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Dr. Morris:
"wages of sin"      Again the apostle emphasizes that the coming of death into the world resulted directly from the coming of sin into the world (Romans 5:12).  God warned Adam that this would happen, and it did (Genesis 2:17,3:17-20).
    There was thus no death in the world before Adam; otherwise it would be meaningless to say that death is the price of sin.  It would also be pointless for Christ to die for the sin of the world if death were already pervasive throughout God's creation before sin.
    Those who accept the geologic-age system, with its supposed characteristic of billions of dead and fossilized animals in a groaning world of suffering and decay, are in effect accepting the concept of a sadistic God (or else no God at all), for the living and wise God of the Bible would never create such a world.
    Evolutionists claim that some such system of suffering and death brought man into the world, but
God has made it clear that man brought suffering and death into the world by his sin.  He has also made it clear that Christ's suffering and death were accepted by God in payment for the sin of the world, a marvelous act of love whereby all suffering and death will eventually be eliminated from the world (Rev. 21:4,5).

I Corinthians 15:21    For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

Dr. Morris:
"by man came death"    There was no death before man (Romans 5:12).  This one verse (as well as the coherent teaching of all Scripture) disproves the false teaching that there were long ages before man, supposedly identified by the fossil remains of organisms living in those ages.
    The fossil record, containing the remains of billions of no-dead animals and man-like creatures, cannot be the record of long ages of evolution.  It is rather the record of one age of cataclysmic death at the time of the great flood, when 'the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished' (II Peter 3:6) and 'all that was in the dry land, died' (Genesis 7:22).
    Not only is this the explicit teaching of Scripture, it is also substantiated by the fact that nowhere in the Bible is there the slightest hint of the death of sentient life, either human or animal, before Adam's sin brought God's curse of decay and death on man's dominion, 'the whole creation' (romans 8:20-22).  It is further supported by geological evidence everywhere in the crust of the earth.

I Corinthians 15:22    For as in Adam all die, even so in christ shall all be made alive.

Dr. Morris:
"in Adam all die"    Adam was certainly a real individual man, just as real as Jesus Christ.  Since he was the first man, all of us were implicitly 'in Adam,' and therefore we have all (except Christ) inherited his sin-nature.

Genesis 2:16    And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
             2:17    But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest
                        thereof  thou shalt surely die.

Dr. Morris:
"not eat of it"    For true fellowship with God (having been created in His image), man must be free to reject that fellowship.  The restrictions imposed here by god is the simplest, most straightforward test that could be devised for determining man's volitional response to God's love.
    There was only one minor restraint placed on Adam's freedom and, with an abundance of delicious fruit of all types available, there was no justification for his desiring the one forbidden fruit.  Nevertheless, he did have a choice, and so was a free moral agent, capable of accepting or rejecting God's will.

"die"    'Thou shalt surely die' could be rendered, 'Dying, thou shalt die!'  In the very day that he would experimentally come to 'know evil' through disobeying God's Word, he would die spiritually, being separated from god's direct fellowship.  Adam would also begin to die physically, with the initiation of decay processes in his body ultimately causing his physical death.

Genesis 3:6    And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Dr. Morris:
"he did eat"    It was at this point that 'by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin' (Romans 5:12).  There could have been no death in the world before man brought sin into the world.  Thus, the fossils in the earth's crust cannot be a record of the evolution of life leading up to man but must be a record of death after man.
    In the evolutionary scenario, struggle and death in the animal kingdom eventually, after a billion years, brought man into the world.
    The truth is, however, that man brought death into his whole dominion by his sin.

Genesis 3:17    And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

Dr. Morris:
"unto Adam"    The full force of the curse fell on Adam, as the responsible head of the human race, and on all his dominion.  Instead of believing God's word, Adam had 'harkened to the voice of his wife' and she had been beguiled by the voice of the serpent.  It is always a fatal mistake to allow the words of any creature to take precedence over the Word of God.

"cursed is the ground"    The 'ground' is the same word as 'earth.'  The very elements of matter, out of which all things had been made, were included in the curse so that the 'whole creation' (Romans 8:22) was brought under bondage to a universal principle of 'corruption' (literally 'decay' - romans 8:21).
    That is, all things had been built up by god from the basic elements of matter ('the dust of the earth'), but now they would all begin to decay back to dust again.
    The curse evidently applies to the entire physical cosmos, as well as to planet Earth, though it is possible that the decay principle operating in the stars and the other planets may relate also to the prior sin of the angelic host of heaven.

"for thy sake"    The curse was not only a punishment for man's disobedience but also a provision for man's good, forcing him to recognize the seriousness of his sin, and realize the folly of trusting anyone but his Creator.  This showed man's inability to save himself from destruction which would encourage him to a state of true repentance toward God and trust in God to save him.
    Analogously, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which is the modern scientific statement of this decay principle, through pointing toward an ultimate death of the universe at the same time points back to a primeval creation and therefore compels men to look toward the Creator as the only possible Savior.

Other sources concerning Death / Genesis / Evolution:

1.  The LIE: Evolution; by Ken Ham; Master Books; 1987

p147    Many people believe that they can add evolution to the Bible.  They think that by doing this they can explain life coming about as a result of god's use of evolutionary processes.  This position is known as "theistic evolution."  However, this is totally inconsistent with Scripture.
    Evolution teaches that for millions of years before man things have lived and died.  They have fought and struggled, killed and been killed.  It was a world without mercy - "nature red in tooth and claw."  This history of evolution is a history of death.  Death has been "from the beginning."
    The Bible clearly teaches that death, particularly the physical and spiritual death of man, entered the world only after the first man, Adam, sinned.
    In Romans 5:12 the apostle Paul wrote:  "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin: and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."
    In 1 Corinthians 15:21-22.  "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
    In Genesis 3:22-23 we read: "And the Lord god said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever: Therefore the Lord god sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken."  Adam was sent out of the garden so he could not live forever.  In other words, he would have to die.
    But what about the animals?  Was death a part of the created animal world?  There are a number of reasons why
    I believe animal death as well as human death did not occur before the Fall.

    a) Could animals have died from old age?
        Before the Fall animals could not have died of old age because Romans 8 reminds us that corruption and decay entered the world only with sin.  Death by old age would have meant that animal bodies would have been wearing out and corruption would have existed.  This would not fit with the description that before sin everything in God's creation was "good."
Isaiah 51:6 tells us that after sin "the earth shall wax old like a garment."
In Romans 8:22 we read that because of sin "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now."
        Thus, it is obvious that the whole of creation, which must include all living creatures, has been subject to "the bondage of corruption" (Romans 8:21) only as a result of the curse because of Adam's sin.  Death from old age, therefore, only began with the curse.
        As we live in a worls where everything wears out, it is difficult to understand how aging could not happen in the pre-Fall world.  However, we are shown a glimpse of the solution in deuteronomy 8:4.  God reminded the Israelites that during their wanderings in the wilderness their "raiment waxed not old" upon them, "neither did thy foot swell these forty years."  Clearly, this was an unusual, supernatural preservation provided by God for His people's particular circumstances.
        We do not see this happening today.  Our clothes wear out quickly.  However, when God sustains something totally, this wearing out does not happen.  It is obvious that before the Fall everything had been created "good," and nothing would have worn out.

    b) Could animals have died when Adam or other animals ate them for food?
        Again, the answer would be "No!"  Not only animals, but man and woman were told they were to eat only
plants (Gen. 1:29).  Animals could not have died from eating each other; Genesis 1:30 tells us their food was also to be only plants.  Also, as god created everything "good", animals could not have killed each other for the sake of killing.  This would be opposite in meaning to "good."  God, being a good God, would not create animals so that the stronger tried to eliminate the weak in a fight for survival.  Also, as everything was created good, there could not have been disease to kill off animals or man.  Diseases today contribute to our bodies' wearing out, but this would not be consistent with what has been pointed out earlier.

    c) Could animals have died accidentally?
        Again, this would go against the concept of "good."  Such a question overlooks the sovereignty and greatness of God.  As we have seen, God can sustain things so that even clothes don't wear out.  Before sin came into the world, death wasn't even a question - God had total control of the creation and sustained it 100 percent!  There was no corruption and no decay.  Hence, death wasn't even a possibility.
        Adam was made in the image of the all-caring God, and the animals were in his charge.  He cared for them.  Death and bloodshed came into the world as a judgment from god for man's rebellion.  But at the same time, death was the very means by which man was to be redeemed.  So bloodshed could not have existed before man's fall.
        There was no bloodshed before Adam sinned: everything was perfect and death was not a part of animal existence.  However, Adam did sin; and God, in giving His covenant to Adam, had laid down the condition that death was to be the reward of disobedience.
        We then read that God himself was the first shedder of blood, because He gave Adam and Eve coats of skin to cover their nakedness (Gen. 3:21).  There is no specific command recorded, but we do know that Abel "also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.  And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering" (Gen. 4:4).
        It is evident, then, that the requirement of an offering of blood was understood.  The writer of Hebrews observes that "without shedding of blood is no remission" (Heb. 9:22)  God fulfilled two undertakings after the Fall:
        (a) that man should die as the penalty for his sin; and
        (b) that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head, and the serpent should bruise his heel.
        So death and bloodshed are the consequences of sin: the penalty which Christ, the Last Adam, bore by His death and shedding of blood on the cross but triumphed over in His glorious resurrection for the redemption of man. 
        If death and bloodshed existed before man sinned, the redemption message is nonsense.

        Evolution teaches that death and bloodshed existed virtually from the beginning.  Millions of years of animals fighting for survival - shedding blood and eating each other - is part of the mechanisms of evolutionn which brought man into existence.  It is completely contrary to the biblical history of the world.
        Evolution says death plus struggle brought man into existence; the Bible says man's actions led to sin, which led to death.  These two are totally contradictory.
        If evolution is true, then the reason Christ died on the cross has been destroyed.

2.  Quotations from Evolutionists concerning the Bible, Death, and Evolution:

        a.  "Christianity has fought, still fights, and will fight science to the desperate end over evolution, because evolution destroys utterly and finally the very reason Jesus' earthly life was supposedly made necessary.  Destroy Adam and Eve and the original sin, and in the rubble you will find the sorry remains of the son of god.  If Jesus was not the redeemer who died for our sins, and this is what evolution means, then Christianity is nothing." (G.R. Bozarth, American Atheist, Sept. 1978, p. 30)

        b.  "... modern evolutionary biology has shattered the hope that some kind of designing or purposive force guided human evolution and established the basis of moral rules.  Instead, biology leads to a wholly mechanistic view of life, as Darwin suspected.  Here are the implications of this mechanistic view of life as I see them.
        First, except for purely mechanistic ones, no organizing or purposive principles exist in the world.  There are no gods and no designing forces.  The frequently made assertion that modern biology and the assumptions of the Judeo-Christian tradition are fully compatible is false.
        Second, there exist no inherent moral or ethical laws, no absolute guiding principles for human society.
        Third, humans are marvelously complex machines.  The individual human becomes an ethical person by two primary mechanisms:  heredity and environmental influence ...
        Fourth, free will, as usually conceived, does not exist."
(Provine, william B., "Influence of Darwin's Ideas on the Study of Evolution,"  Bioscience, vol. 32; June 1982; pp. 501-506.  Provine is Professor of History and Biological Sciences, Cornell University.)

        c.  p. 205  "Biologists believe in genesis, but if a biologist begins reading Genesis, the opening story seems incredible.  The trouble is not so much the six days of creation in chapters 1 and 2, though most of the controversy is usually thought to lie there, as in chapter 3, where, spoiling the Garden Earth, the first couple fall and Earth becomes cursed.
        A biologist realizs that prescientific people expressed themselves in parables and stories.  The Earth arising from a formless void, inspired by a command to bring forth swarms of creatures, generated in the seas, filling the land, multiplying and filling the Earth, eventuating in the appearance of humans, made of dust and yet remarkably special - all of this is rather congenial with the evolutionary genesis.
        The real problem is with the Fall when a once-paradisiacal nature becomes recalcitrant as a punishment for human sin.  That does not fit into the biological paradigm at all.  Suffering in a harsh world did not enter chronologically after sin and on account of it.  There was struggle for long epochs before the human arrival, however problematic the arrival of sinful humans may also be."
        p. 206  "But nature is also where the fittest survive, 'red in tooth and claw,' fierce and indifferent, a scene of hunger, disease, death.  And nature is what it is regardless of human moral failings, indeed regardless of humans at all."
(Rolston, Holmes, III, "Does Nature Need to Be Redeemed?"  Zygon, vol. 29; June 1994; pp. 205-229.  Rolston is Distinguished Professor Of Philosophy at Colorado State University.)