UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE
Genesis ch 1 and Evolution
If someone familiar with modern science, especially zoology, were asked
to translate the first chapter of Genesis, he would not use the expression
"after its kind"-- the standard translation of the Hebrew לְמִינוֹ
/ לְמִינֵהוּ / לְמִינֵהֶם; but would instead use the
scientific term species, i.e., "according to
its species". Species is a
very important concept in zoology and used by scientists to differentiate one
animal 'family' from another.
A professor of mine many years ago gave the following-- if length --
definition:
If two animals mate and produce a living offspring and that offspring is
sterile, i.e., cannot reproduce when mated with members of the fathers side or
mother's side, then the two parent animals are different species.
This is a very important concept because there are examples were animals
of different species have mated and produce living offspring. The best known
and probably the oldest example is the mule; the outcome when a male donkey
mates with a female horse. The mule has a desirable combination of the qualities
of the two different parental groups but it cannot reproduce as it is sterile.
Thereby proving donkeys and horses are distinct species.
Recently a similar example of cross-species reproduction was noted in
the media when a zebra impregnated a female horse and produces a crossbreed
offspring called a zebroid
-- which is sterile.
By the same token animals that look radically different can be members
of the same species -- because they can produce offspring who are not sterile.
Dogs are one such group. Dogs come in a variety of sizes from Chiwawas
to Great Danes and from long haired to almost hairless. Yet despite such wide
diversity they are all one species as they can produce cross-breed offspring
that are not sterile -- and so their parents are members of one
species.
This insight into the nature of species is important because it is the
major barrier to the Theory of Evolution.
In the Bible,
the first chapter of Genesis goes out of its way to emphasize again and
again that the Divine creations were made each "according to its
species": both regarding plants and trees (verses 11-12 = 2 times) and repeatedly
regarding the different animals of the sea (verse 21 = 1 time), birds of the
sky (verse 21 = 1 time) and the creatures of the land from reptiles and snakes
to wild beasts and cattle (verses 24-25 = 5 times).
In total,
"according to its species" is mentioned 9 times in 7
verses!!!
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http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0101.htm (My yellow highlighting)
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Genesis
Chapter1
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11 And God
said: 'Let the earth put forth grass, herb yielding seed, and fruit-tree
bearing fruit after its
kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth.' And it was so.
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12 And the
earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree bearing fruit, wherein
is the seed thereof, after
its kind; and God saw that it was good.
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20 And God
said: 'Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let fowl fly
above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.'
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21 And God
created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that creepeth,
wherewith the waters swarmed, after its kind, and every winged fowl after its kind; and God saw that it was
good.
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22 And God
blessed them, saying: 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the
seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.'
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24 And God
said: 'Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle, and creeping
thing, and beast of the earth after its kind.' And it was so.
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25 And God
made the beast of the earth after its kind, and the cattle after their kind, and
every thing that creepeth upon the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
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