And this it may be added, is not a purely modern theory, made to reconcile the narrative with science; for the Greek Jew, Philo, born about B.C. 20, who knew nothing of geology, ridicules the idea of the days of Genesis being literal, or representing any definite periods of time.[12]
[12] Works of Philo Judæus, First book of Allegories of the Sacred Laws, Yonge's translation, 1854, vol. i., p. 52.
(3.) Its gradual development.
Next, it must be noticed that, according to Genesis, God did not create a perfect world all at once, but slowly built it up step by step. At first the earth was waste and void, and only after it had passed through several stages did it become fully inhabited. Moreover, at every step (with two exceptions, the firmament and man, noticed later on), God examined the work and pronounced it good. He seems thus to have discerned a beauty and excellence in each stage; though it was not till the close of the whole work that He was completely satisfied, and pronounced it all very good.
And the narrative appears to be quite correct. For geology shows that the formation of the earth, with its various inhabitants, was a gradual process, not accomplished all at once, but slowly step by step, through successive ages. And it also shows that these ages were of such magnitude and importance that we cannot regard them as mere preparations for man's coming, but as having a beauty and excellence of their own, so that they well deserved to be called good. But we may ask, how did the writer of Genesis know all this?
And then as to the way in which this development was brought about. According to Genesis, each stage was due to what we may call a Special Divine force, represented by a word of command from God. And this also seems correct, for we cannot otherwise account for the first appearance of the various groups, such as plants, animals, and men. It is not disputed that these various stages may have been evolved from the previous ones, e.g., the living from the not-living, which the narrative itself suggests in the words, Let the earth put forth grass; and also at its close, when it speaks of the generations of the heaven and of the earth; which implies some kind of organic descent, or evolution. Indeed the common expression that God made, is probably used in the sense of evolved; since the same word is employed in ver. II of fruit-trees making fruit (translated bearing or yielding fruit); yet we know they do not make fruit suddenly out of nothing, but slowly produce it.
What is disputed is, that this evolution took place merely under the influence of natural development, and without the additional influence of a new Divine force. And considering that all attempts to effect a similar transition now have failed completely, it is not unreasonable to suppose that there was some other and special Cause at work then. Nor is it easy to see how some of the changes could have been otherwise produced. Take, for instance, this very subject of the origin of life. As far as we know, the only natural mode in which life can begin is from a living parent, yet there was a time when there were no living parents on this earth. How, then, could it have originated, except by some process other than natural, i.e., supernatural? Or, again, to take another instance, when the first free being, whether animal or man, appeared on this planet, a force totally different from all natural forces was introduced, and one which could not have been derived from them alone.
And then there is another, and very interesting point, to notice. It is that according to Genesis, these steps were not all of equal importance. For while it describes most of them by the word made, which, as just said, seems to mean here evolved; on three occasions, and only three, it uses the word create. These refer to the origin of the universe, of animal life (fishes and birds), and of man. And this is very significant, when we remember that these correspond to the beginning of matter, mind, and spirit; and are therefore (as said in [Chapter IV.]) just the three places where something altogether new was introduced; which could not, as far as we can see, have been evolved from anything else. And this double method of producing, partly by creating, and partly by making or evolving, is again referred to at the close of the narrative, where we read that God rested from all His work, which He had created and made. So much for the general principles of the narrative, we pass on now to its detailed order.
(B.) Its Detailed Order.
It will be remembered that in Genesis, after describing the earliest state of the earth, there are eight stages in its development; two of which occurred on the third, and two on the sixth, day. We have thus altogether nine subjects to examine.