| Why a Fully Consistent Approach to Biblical Exegesis Implies the Creation of Genesis 1 Is Not About the Physical Creation of the Cosmos and Why Noah’s Flood Also Appears to Have Been an Historical Parable about a War.
By Daniel Morais
posted February, 2023
If the destruction of heaven and earth at the end of the age did not result in the complete annihilation of the cosmos, then the creation of heaven and earth in Genesis 1 is not likely about the physical creation of that same heaven and earth, is it? How could heaven and earth be physical in Genesis 1 and something else entirely in 2 Peter 3? Here we see that a fully-consistent approach to Preterism implies an old earth...
In Genesis 1:1 God “created the heavens and the earth.” Remember that according to Biblical precedent the creation of heaven and earth is used elsewhere in the Bible to symbolize the establishment of a new nation or kingdom. I believe the same meaning is intended in Genesis 1.
The idea that the creation of heaven and earth is not about the physical creation of the universe is also suggested by the chronological absurdities in this creation account. For example, plants and trees are created before the sun. Even more absurd is the fact that God creates light on day 1 and yet the sun, moon and stars are not created until day four. Furthermore, if the sun is created on the fourth day, how is it that there are three days in which there is “evening and morning” prior to the creation of the sun (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13)? The story of Adam and Eve in Genesis 2 is another creation account. And in Genesis 2 the order of creation laid out in Genesis 1 is largely presented in reverse in Genesis 2.
However, the idea that Genesis 1 is a poem about the creation of a new kingdom by acts of war makes perfect sense of how the sun, moon and stars do not make their appearance at the beginning of creation. In Genesis 1:6-7 there is a separation of the waters above from the waters below implying a kind of evaporation of water that creates the clouds. Clouds darken the sun, moon and stars: “When I snuff you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. 8 All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you; I will bring darkness over your land, declares the Sovereign Lord [emphasis mine].” (Ezekiel 32:7-8.)
Why are there clouds darkening the sun, moon and stars at the beginning of creation? Because presumably at the beginning of this creation account is a destruction of a previous heaven and earth brought about by the coming of the Lord on the clouds in judgment—something we see in the destruction of heaven and earth everywhere else in the Bible. In Genesis 1:2 “the Spirit of God hovers over the waters.” According to Psalm 104 when God hovered over the waters in Genesis 1, this was the first time in the Bible in which God came on the clouds of heaven. When Psalm 104 records the steps of creation, it does not say that God moved or hovered over the waters. Instead, Psalm 104:3 says that the Lord came on the clouds: “He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.” Thus according to Psalm 104 God came on the clouds of heaven at the start of creation....
In the rest of Genesis 1 God creates plants, animals and humans. Plants often symbolize people in the Bible (Deuteronomy 32:2; Judges 9:8-15; 2 Kings 19:26; Job 5:25;19:10; 24:20; Psalm 1:3; 37:2, 35; 52:8; 74:1-5; 92:12; 103:15). Animals also often symbolize people (Psalm 22:1-13; 49:12, 20; 57:4; 68:29-31; 73:22; 74:19; Jeremiah 12:9; Ezekiel 39:18; Daniel 7:11; Micah 5:8; Acts 10:9-28). The creation of plants and animals in Genesis 1 seems to represent the people populating the new kingdom with the man created in Genesis 1:27-28 seemingly representing their king as man is said to “[r]ule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:28)....
On the seventh day God finishes His work and rests. (Genesis 2:1-3.) The fact that God “rested” after creation is another subtle sign that the first six days of creation are about war. There are many Hebrew words that mean rest–seemingly all of them are used in context somewhere in the Bible unambiguously to denote peace or security from a lack of war (Deut 3:20; 12:10; 25:19; Josh 1:13-15; 11:23; 21:44; 23:1; 2 Sam 7:1, 11; 1 Kings 5:4; 1 Chron 22:9; 2 Chron 14:6; Jer 45:3; 47:6; 48:11-15; 50:34-35; Lam 5:5; Hab 2:5). One prime example is 1 Chronicles 22:9: “But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon, and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign.” The first word for “peace” translated here from the NIV is menuchah meaning “resting place, rest.” The “rest” Solomon receives from his enemies is nuach or noach which means “to rest”. Nuach also spelled Noach is the root word for which the name Noah is derived. This is significant as we shall see when we get into the flood as Noah’s flood is also a tale of war poetically portrayed as a flood. The second word for “peace” is shalom meaning “completeness, soundness, welfare, peace.” In this one sentence we see three different Hebrew words for rest each denoting peace or security due to a lack of war...
Was Noah’s Flood Another Historical Parable about Another Ancient War or Siege?
Noah’s flood in Genesis 6 mirrors the beginning of creation in Genesis 1:1-10 where the earth begins in a flooded state before the separation of the waters and the appearance of dry land. Thus in both Genesis 1 and 6 there is a flood. Both floods appear to symbolize the same thing: foreign nations/armies as do all aquatic terms in the Bible (Revelation 17:15; Daniel 7; 9:26; 11:10, 40; Psalm 65:7; 144:7, Isaiah 8:7-8; 17:12; 60:5; Jeremiah 46:7-8; 47:1-2; 51:55-56; Ezekiel 26:3; Nahum 1:8) (see In the Bible “Earth” Signifies the Specific Land Addressed While “Sea” Symbolizes Foreign Nations). Genesis 6 appears to be another poem about war...
As stated above, the name Noah comes from the Hebrew noach which means rest. In Genesis 2:2 we saw that rest in Hebrew means more than “not working” it often carries with it an explicit and clear idea of peace or security from a lack of war (Deut 3:20; 12:10; 25:19; Josh 1:13-15; 11:23; 21:44; 23:1; 2 Sam 7:1, 11; 1 Kings 5:4; 1 Chron 22:9; 2 Chron 14:6; Jer 45:3; 47:6; 48:11-15; 50:34-35; Lam 5:5; Hab 2:5). The fact that the hero of Genesis 6-8 has a name that denotes security and peace is not a coincidence as Noah’s story also appears to be a war story.
Noah was not a common man. According to Antiquities of the Jews, Noah was a king: “This calamity happened in the six hundredth year of Noah’s government, in the second month, called by the Macedonians Dius, but by the Hebrews Marchesuan: for so did they order their year in Egypt [emphasis mine].” (Ant. 1.3.3)
Recall that floods and all other aquatic terminology signify foreign nations (especially foreign armies) in the Bible (Revelation 17:15; Daniel 7; 9:26; 11:10, 40; Psalm 65:7; 144:7, Isaiah 8:7-8; 17:12; 60:5; Jeremiah 46:7-8; 47:1-2; 51:55-56; Ezekiel 26:3; Nahum 1:8). The verses cited above clearly show how aquatic imagery denotes foreigners and foreign armies. However, this meaning is implicit all over the Bible, even in verses where it may not seem immediately obvious. For example, in Job 22:11 Eliphaz tells Job that a flood of water covers him: “[That is] why it is so dark you cannot see, and why a flood of water covers you.” In the Book of Job, Job was never afflicted by literal water. The “flood of water” that afflicted Job seems to refer back to the armies of Sabeans and Chaldeans who brought upon Job his trails by attacked Job’s family in Job 1:13-17...
If Noah was a king and floods symbolize foreign armies while boats denote a palace or fortified city, then it appears that the flood of Genesis 6 is an historical parable or symbolic historical account of a foreign army besieging Noah’s fortified city or palace (i.e. boat) which Noah seems to have constructed and fortified to protect himself from the coming army (i.e. flood) in response to God’s warning. According to Genesis 7:12 “rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.” Interestingly, this is also the length of time in which Ezekiel lies on his side to symbolize the siege of Jerusalem in Ezekiel 4:6-7.
According to Genesis 7:19 the flood is said to have covered all the mountains under heaven. Mountains denote cities in the Bible. Daniel 9:16; Psalms 2:6; 48:1; Isaiah 66:20; Jeremiah 51:25; and Joel 3:17 are a few clear examples in which a city is called a mountain although there are so many examples of this meaning in the Bible that it is far too numerous to cite. It is also important to note that in the Bible “all” does not always mean “without exception.” Matthew 2:1-3, Matthew 4:8, Matthew 10:22 are a few clear examples in which “all” or “every” has clear and obvious exceptions. The explicit notion of a flood covering a mountain to symbolize a siege is found in Jeremiah 51. Here Babylon is said to be a mountain covered by the sea. Ancient Babylon was never flooded. Jeremiah 51 makes it clear that this flood covering the mountain or city of Babylon is the armies of the Medes and Persians who caused Babylon to fall in the sixth century B.C....
Recall as stated in the commentary on Genesis 1 that animals of all kinds often represent people in the Bible (Psalm 22:1-13; 49:12, 20; 57:4; 68:29-31; 73:22; 74:19; Jeremiah 12:9; Ezekiel 39:18; Daniel 7:11; Micah 5:8; Acts 10:9-28). In Acts 10 we learn that clean animals represent Jews and unclean animals, Gentiles or foreigners. Consistent with this symbolism is the idea that the clean animals in the ark represent the subjects of Noah’s kingdom with the local people represented as clean animals and the foreign slaves represented by the unclean animals. Meanwhile the people of the story seem to signify Noah and his royal family as man is said to “[r]ule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:28).
In Genesis 8:3 we see the waters of the flood gradually recede to make dry land appear equivalent to the separation of the waters at the beginning of creation (Genesis 1:9-10) and the parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:21). Recall that the dividing of the sea in Exodus seems to symbolize the fact that Moses drew the Jewish slaves, the earth, out of Egypt, the sea, to create a new kingdom, the earth, from the Gentile nations, the sea (see In the Bible “Earth” Signifies the Specific Land Addressed While “Sea” Symbolizes Foreign Nations). I believe a similar meaning is intended in the account of Noah’s flood. Here Noah overcomes his foreign adversaries and retains his independence from foreign conquest keeping the earth, Noah’s kingdom, separate and independent from the sea (Gentile nations)...
The evidence presented above shows quite clearly and powerfully that the creation and destruction of heaven and earth as mentioned throughout the Bible is not a physical creation of the cosmos. Rather the creation and destruction of heaven and earth seems to contextually refer exclusively to the establishment or dissolution of individual, isolated kingdoms throughout the Bible. This understanding seems to be bolstered by the fact that similar language and implicit meaning is also found in the sacred writings of Israel’s immediate neighbors (i.e. ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt) suggesting this understanding may go back to the common ancestors of the people who later became or at least influenced these great, ancient civilizations. The information presented above harmonizes the destruction of heaven and earth in 2 Peter 3 and elsewhere throughout the Bible with the creation of heaven and earth in Genesis 1 and creation of heaven and earth at the establishment of Israel as a kingdom at the Exodus according to Isaiah 51:9-16. The evidence presented above also solves the dilemma a literal global deluge poses to the Preterist interpretation of Matthew 24:21 where a global flood is clearly more tragic than Israel’s first-century war with Rome. And, of course, the evidence presented in this article fully reconciles the conflict between Genesis and science in regards to the age of the earth. If Genesis 1 is about a war as is suggested quite powerfully above, then there is no longer a conflict between the Bible and science in regards to the age of the earth.
Note of Special Interest:
17. In Genesis 8:20 Noah sacrifices clean animals to the Lord. Though it appears that the animals in Noah’s ark signify people, I do not believe this is a human sacrifice. I think Noah sacrificed a literal animal but I believe that animal still represents people like the people Noah lost in the siege. Thus Noah’s sacrifice would then mirror the sacrifices prescribed in the Law of Moses where the sacrificial animals represent Jesus—the Lamb of God–and the saints who were murdered by the Jews throughout their history.
What about 1 Peter 3:20: “to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people (psuche meaning breath, soul), eight in all, were saved through water”? 1 Peter 3:20 is interesting since throughout Genesis 6-9 it says all living creatures with the breath of life were killed (Genesis 6:17) except those who entered the ark (Genesis 7:15). Even so 1 Peter 3:20 is a correct. According to Genesis there were 8 people who survived the flood, this is true when read at face value as this is what the text states. Even if Peter believed the animals were people 1 Peter 3:20 is not false as that is what Genesis states.
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P.S. Author's Follow-up Note:
If we look at the use of aquatic language in the Bible we can see a strong pattern emerge: all aquatic terms are often used as synonyms for foreign nations/armies. (this may go back to the original cuneiform writing style (original writing style of Mesopotamia where Genesis took place). The Mesopotamian language might have 10000 words but only 200 characters or so, so individual characters/ words would have more than one meaning) (i.e. waters=nations=death ; mountains=cities etc etc ) like we find in the Bible where words often have more than one meaning.
We see this applied in a very clever way in the flood narrative it seems. Revelation 17:15 also clearly exemplifies the fact that sea or waters represents foreign nations:
“The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.”
There are many other examples in the Bible in which words like sea or waters clearly represent nations foreign to the specific kingdom addressed (Daniel 7; 9:26; 11:10, 40; Psalm 65:7; 144:7, Isaiah 8:7-8; 17:12; 60:5; Jeremiah 46:7-8; 47:1-2; 51:55-56; Ezekiel 26:3; Nahum 1:8):
Reach down your hand from on high; deliver me and rescue me from the mighty waters, from the hands of foreigners[.]” (Psalm 144:7)
Woe to the many nations that rage—they rage like the raging sea! Woe to the peoples who roar—they roar like the roaring of great waters! (Isaiah 17:12)
Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come. (Isaiah 60:5)
“Who is this that rises like the Nile, like rivers of surging waters? Egypt rises like the Nile, like rivers of surging waters. She says, ‘I will rise and cover the earth; I will destroy cities and their people.’ (Jeremiah 46:7-8)
This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked Gaza: This is what the Lord says: “See how the waters are rising in the north; they will become an overflowing torrent. They will overflow the land and everything in it, the towns and those who live in them. The people will cry out; all who dwell in the land will wail (Jeremiah 47:1-2)
The Lord will destroy Babylon; he will silence her noisy din. Waves of enemies will rage like great waters; the roar of their voices will resound. A destroyer will come against Babylon; her warriors will be captured, and their bows will be broken. (Jeremiah 51:55-56)
[T]herefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, Tyre, and I will bring many nations against you, like the sea casting up its waves. (Ezekiel 26:3)
As illustrated in some of the quotes above, this imagery also extends to related words like flood. In Isaiah 8:7-8 the coming of the Assyrian army to Israel is pictured as the mighty Euphrates overflowing its banks: “Therefore the Lord is about to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates—the king of Assyria with all his pomp. It will overflow all its channels, run over all its banks and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck.” Similar symbolism is found in Daniel 11:10 and Daniel 11:40:
His sons will prepare for war and assemble a great army, which will sweep on like an irresistible flood and carry the battle as far as his fortress. (Daniel 11:10)
At the time of the end the king of the South will engage him in battle, and the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of ships. He will invade many countries and sweep through them like a flood. (Daniel11:40)
In all great poetry or literature you have a blend of literal and figurative. And that blend brings depth and richness to the story. I was ironically thinking about this earlier this week. We see the same thing in Genesis. Was there literal waters and a flood? I now believe that yes, indeed there was a literal flood--after all it rained for 40 days so any time it rains that long it will be flooded. But was there enough water to cover the earth's mountains--of course not.
Here is where the symbolism takes over. The fountains of the deep has meaning--foreign armies/death. (again words have more than one meaning) The verse is alluding me now, but there is a verse that states that when God comes on the clouds he does so amidst an army. This is beautiful poetry here as we have a flood both literal and symbolic. Remember God comes on the clouds in violent rain storms (literal flood) accompanied by armies (figurative flood) This is poetry at its finest! The flood that pours from the clouds is a SIGN or physical omen or symbol of the army (flood) that God has brought on the land besieging Noah's palace (i.e. boat). I wish I could write this well! I'd be the next great American writer! The boat is the palace etc. Just beautiful historical, sacred poetry teaming with beautifully clever use of symbolism. Bravo!
I rarely see this kind of beauty in writing, but most of the truly great authors and script writers write in this way as well where there is a kind of symbolism or double talk to their writing by blending the literal and the figurative/symbolic in clever ways. I don't have a lot of time to read anymore but I can turn you on to several movies that do this in similarly clever ways. Here are a few:
No Country for Old Men
Arrival
Ex Machina
There will be Blood
Annihilation
The Departed
Men
Her
The Master
Inherent Vice
Phantom Thread
Where the Crawdads Sing
You'll probably have to watch these movies several times at first (I know in some of these I had to do this, "Arrival" is particularly complex) almost so that they are memorized and then you might be able to piece together the symbolism as in any good work of literature the author will explicitly define the meaning of the symbols (as does the Bible in the verses cited above) in random places in the movie/book.
Apply it throughout, and you will see incredible and brilliant storytelling.
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