UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE: Science
Genesis 1-2:3 - Onions, Oaths and Trappist-1
Genesis 1-2:3 - Onions, Oaths and Trappist-1
On
February 22, 2017, NASA, in the scientific journal Nature, and through print media, radio and TV,
revealed evidence from its Spitzer space telescope that confirmed earlier Earth
telescope findings that the red dwarf star Trappist-1 has 7 spherical orbiting planets of which 3 –
located in the so-called sweet zone -- could contain water, an atmosphere and possibly
support life as on Earth[1]
Trappist-1
is 39 light years away or 370,000,000,000,000 km.[2]
It
is one of well over 100,000,000,000 suns (long called stars)
in our galaxy, the Milky Way.[3]
And
evidence from the Hubble space telescope indicates that there are at least one
trillion galaxies visible from Earth.[4]
Oaths
When one takes the witness stand in Canada or the USA, one is required
to take an oath with one hand up -- palm showing, and the other on a Bible or
other Holy Scripture. The oath, in
British tradition around the world, goes well beyond the Commandment of “ Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour” , as one is required to swear before God that “evidence I shall
give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”[5]
That is, to give only information that is true
and all information that one knows.
However,
there are two limitations that apply.
Only
information relevant to the case is to be given. Whether a witness to a car
theft had oatmeal for breakfast or has 3 grandchildren or has blue eyes are
all tangential and unnecessary.
Secondly, if
the witness is giving expert testimony, he or she must use plain, everyday
language so the judge and jury -- ordinary people -- can understand.
No technical
jargon speak using words such as 'hermeneutics'.
Onions
There is an old saying that learning is like
peeling a (round) onion: there are many layers of knowledge and to get to the
very core takes persistence and time.
In the Western world, when we teach young children,
we start with the very rudimentary basics: reading, writing, arithmetic and
simple cultural values.
As they mature, they are introduced to more
complex knowledge and by the end of high school have probably learned algebra,
geometry and possibly calculus, chemistry, biology and physics, additional languages,
world history, etc.
At college and university, even higher levels
of knowledge and specialization ensue with the ladder of learning progressing
from B.A./B.Sc to M.A. to Ph.D. or other ‘specialist’ training such a
neurosurgery.
Today, the onion in this analogy is far larger
and far more layered than any in the past, as human progress and knowledge have
exploded in the last few centuries. Our onion and range of knowledge is vastly greater
than anything previously: the Medieval period, the Roman Empire, the Greek
World and back to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Rashi is a case
in point.
In his
commentary to Genesis 1:1 he argues that the very first verse of the Bible is
not just the Masoretic tradition of 7 words, but that it is 25 words (2 1/2
verses) long[6] and
that the wording of Creation is not chronological whatsoever.
He argues
this on detailed grammatical grounds and, tersely, as a second reason, because
the text is contrary to the laws of science. To paraphrase Rashi, the
SHAMAYIM, after all, is made from Fire and Water, so it cannot come at the very
start.
The idea that
all matter was made from the four fundamental elements of earth, air, fire and water is of ancient origin and was accepted even by Aristotle and
was still 'common knowledge' in Rashi's time, the 11th century C E.
But today we
know better.
Children in elementary
grades know water is H2O (2 atoms of hydrogen bonded to one
atom of oxygen), and by the end of high school everyone who has taken
chemistry or looked at the huge poster on the science lab wall, sees the
real key and road map of all matter --- the Periodic Table[7].
Put simply,
when trying to understand the words and description of physical Creation in
Genesis ch 1-2:3, we all -- consciously and unconsciously -- do so against
the backdrop of 'accepted scientific knowledge'.
Conclusion
So what does all of this have to do with Genesis
ch 1-2:3 and the Bible’s account of physical Creation?
Firstly, we must realize that the details given
by the text is limited and designed to answer basic human curiosity
regarding the who, what, when, how and why
of human existence on Earth -- within
the knowledge and understanding of humans living some 3 ½ millennia ago.
Yes, Egypt was a great and a highly developed
civilization with fantastic engineering feats such as the pyramids, and
Mesopotamia was equally a world leader with its sky high ziggurat temples
and invention of bricks and beer.
But it took Copernicus and Galileo with his new
telescope in the mid-16th – early 17th centuries C.E[8].
to reveal the truth about our sun-centred solar system, and thereafter Newton
on gravity, and 20th century Rutherford and the atom, Einstein, and
all the technological breakthroughs since the 1960s with computers, atom
smashing accelerators for sub-atomic particles, sophisticated optical and other
telescopes, satellites and probes and rovers to the planets of our solar system
all the way to Pluto and beyond, the Hubble space telescope, and men walking in
space and on the Moon.
All our current knowledge and understanding of
the Universe was not available to humans in the past who, to use an Einsteinian
phrase, were ‘observers’ anchored to the Earth and, therefore, restricted in
their understanding by their geocentric point of view.
The Bible in Genesis Ch 1-2:3 is therefore best
seen as supplying ‘snippets’ of scientific truth within the limits of what
humans could – 3 ½ millennia ago -- comprehend.
And the oddities and anomalies of the text which
have perplexed and baffled our rabbis and scholars for centuries, can, in fact,
be better understood and better resolved using the scientific knowledge
of today.
Put simply, modern scientific knowledge sheds
new light on Genesis ch 1-2:3 and Divine Creation.
[1] http://www.vox.com/2017/2/22/14698030/nasa-seven-exoplanet-discovery-trappist-
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-telescope-reveals-largest-batch-of-earth-size-habitable-zone-planets-around and https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/feb/22/thrilling-discovery-of-seven-earth-sized-planets-discovered-orbiting-trappist-1-star and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/02/22/nasa-announcement-live/
[6] See Rashi to Genesis 1:1. Rashi ends the first sentence with “וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי אוֹר ג” . His
verse #2 is “וַיְהִי-אוֹר. ” .
[7] Electronic version is
at https://www.bing.com/search?q=periodic%20table&qs=n&form=QBRE&sp=-1&ghc=1&pq=periodic%20table&sc=9-14&sk=&cvid=560A4554442B41189C985EC7A1A43CB5
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei
