Opinions of Sunday, 25 June 2023
Columnist: Herman Cummings
Does the bible give us a description of Creation Week? No, hardly at all. What Yehovah revealed to Moses was something much more profound, as we will reveal later. Without further due, let us read on.
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.
Right away, the modern reader should know that something is not right. That branch of creationism called Ruin and Restoration recognizes this, and accepts that there was a history of existence before the time period of this day shown to Moses. The Gap Theorists also throw their hat into the ring, saying that there is a gap of time between Genesis 1:1, and Genesis 1:2.
Well, “nice try”.
Does Yehovah (pronounced “Yee-ho-vaahh”) think that what He was showing Moses was the first day of creation? Moses did, and many of us now think so, but that was not the case. Trying to label the first “evening and morning” as the beginning of Creation Week lacks credibility and doesn’t make sense.
It was passed along as the first day of creation , from thousands of years ago, but it won’t “fly” as such today. If it was “order out of chaos”, what made the chaos? So, what was Moses looking at? Let’s rephrase the verse to say:
No dry ground could be seen, and it was void of life. Darkness was upon the face of the deep waters. Yet the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the oceans.
Now, what have we here? A former existence had been eliminated, and a restoration event is now in order. What was eliminated (judged?), and why? What will now be restored? Are we being told that an extinction occurred, and a new era of life will now be put upon the Earth? The answer is “Yes”!!
We first should turn into the Bible to where Yehovah was revealing the seven days to Moses. To do that, let’s relate a little history of Israel. When Joseph was seventeen years old, ten of his older brothers sold him into slavery to a caravan on its way to Egypt in the Spring of 2051 BC.
After Joseph became governor of (Lower) Egypt in 2038 BC, the remaining family left Canaan and arrived in Egypt the third week of April 2028 BC. Their intention was to sojourn in Egypt only until the end of the famine.
Genesis 47:4
They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are we come; for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen.
At this time, the Hyksos were in power, because they had earlier conquered Lower (northern) Egypt in 2106 BC. This was not the same regime that Abraham had visited.
However, Israel sojourned for thirty years, and ended up overstaying their welcome. They became enslaved on Friday April 25, 1998 BC, after Upper (southern) Egypt had driven off the Hyksos of Lower (northern) Egypt, reclaiming their land they loss 108 years earlier. That’s why the new pharaoh (Ahmose?) from Upper Egypt didn’t know or appreciate Joseph. Joseph was seventy years old at the time.
Exactly 400 years later, the “children of Israel” were led out of bondage by Moses, who was the fourth generation, on Friday April 25, 1598 BC. The four generations were Jacob, Levi, Jochebed, and Moses.
In order to fulfill Genesis 15:16, Yehovah gave Jochebed long life (266 yrs.), which was the first miracle that Yehovah performed in Egypt. On Sunday morning two days later at Succoth, they obtained the mummy of Joseph on April 27.
The Israelites arrived at Mt. Sinai (Jebel el Lawz) in NW Saudi Arabia on Friday June 13, and were told to wash themselves and their clothes in preparation of Yehovah speaking to them on the third day.
Exodus 19:14-16
And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.
And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.
And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.
On Sunday morning June 15, 1598, BC, was the first enactment of the Day of Pentecost. Fifty days after obtaining the bones of Joseph, who was “the first fruits” of Israel to go into Egypt, Yehovah gave Israel the “new tongue” of Hebrew.
This is another fact that atheists should consider.
Six days later, in Exodus chapter twenty-four, Moses climbs part way up the mountain into a cloud, where Yehovah reveals to Moses the seven days, before later giving him the tablets of stone higher up on the mountain.
Exodus 24:15-18
And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount.
And the glory of the Lord abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.
And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.
Notice the time of year that the visions were given. The evening began on Saturday, close to 8:30 PM on June 20, 1598 BC. It was the thirteenth day of the third Hebrew month Sivan. It is the first sliver (lower crescent) of the renewed Moon at sundown, which follows the “new Moon”, that signals the beginning of a new month.
That is why the Jewish day begins in the evening at sundown. So on the “first day” (evening) of the new week, Yehovah showed Moses what was done on the first day of a restoration week, sometime in the past. But how far back in the past???