Urban Legends of the Old Testament

40 Common Misconceptions

David A. Croteau, Gary Yates

• Publisher: B&H Academic
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781433648335
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

Urban Legends of the Old Testament surveys forty of the most commonly misinterpreted passages in the Old Testament. These "urban legends" often arise because interpreters neglect a passage's context, misuse historical background information, or misunderstand the original language of the text. With a pastoral tone and helpful explanations of where the error originally occurred, authors David A. Croteau and Gary E. Yates tackle legendary biblical misinterpretations of topics like the origin of evil or the purpose of Mosaic food laws, as well as common misconceptions about dinosaurs, or NASA discovering Joshua's long day. Urban Legends of the Old Testament will help readers avoid missteps in the interpretation of key biblical texts while modeling interpretative techniques that can also be applied to other Old Testament passages.

CHAPTER 1

In the “Gap” between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, Satan Fell

Genesis 1:1–2

The Legendary Teaching on the “Gap Theory” in Genesis 1

The fall of Satan occurred in the “gap” between Gen 1:1 and 1:2. After the creation of the universe, Satan led a heavenly rebellion and was cast out of heaven and down to Earth. God judged the earth after Satan took up his residence there, reducing the planet to a condition of ruin and chaos. Genesis 1:2 should be read, “And the earth became formless and empty.” God’s work of re-creation (or restitution) of the ruined earth begins in Gen 1:3 and continues throughout the six days of creation recounted in the rest of the chapter. The gap theory provides an explanation of when Satan fell, and the undetermined time of the gap between Gen 1:1 and 1:2 explains how the universe can be millions or billions of years old even with the literal six-day creation portrayed in Genesis 1.¹ Geological strata indicating an old Earth belong to this original creation.

Countering the Legendary Teaching

The gap theory fails for various reasons. The syntax of the opening verses in Genesis 1 does not allow for the translation “And the earth became formless.” The insertion of a satanic fall and divine judgment into Gen 1:1–2 is pure speculation, and the Hebrew Bible offers no clear account of the fall of Satan.² There is also nothing in the Bible to suggest that God judged the earth itself when Satan fell, and the reasons for such a judgment are not clear.

The gap theory is reflective of a problem with many contemporary readings of Genesis 1–2. In these readings, concerns with how the biblical account comports with modern scientific theories about the origin of the universe become the focal point rather than discovery of the theological message of the text itself. The particular question of the age of the universe has often dominated evangelical discussion of Genesis 1–2; although this issue has importance, we must first remember that this text is to be read as an ancient creation account, not a modern scientific one.

“Formless and Empty”: An Indication of Divine Judgment?

Proponents of the gap (or restitution) theory propose that the expression translated in the King James Version as “without form, and void” (tohu webohu; CSB: “formless and empty”) offers proof that catastrophic judgment resulting from the heavenly rebellion led by Satan has occurred between Gen 1:1 and 1:2. The term tohu has the meaning of “wasteland,” “emptiness,” or “nothingness.”³ It refers to a desert or uninhabited city (see Deut 32:10; Job 12:24; Ps 107:4; Isa 24:10), the “nothingness” of idols (1 Sam 12:21; Isa 41:29; 44:9), and futile words or deeds (Isa 29:21; 49:4). The term bohu (“void, waste”) appears only with tohu, and the two words joined by a conjunction likely convey a single idea of utter or complete emptiness.

This word pair formless and empty (tohu webohu) appears elsewhere in the Old Testament only in Isa 34:11 and Jer 4:23. In these passages, the condition of something being “formless and empty” is the result of judgment. The fact that divine judgment is the cause of tohu webohu in Isaiah 34 and Jeremiah 4 does not, however, necessitate the same cause for this condition in Genesis 1. The chaos in Gen 1:2 merely reflects that God has either not begun or completed his work of creation.⁴ Isaiah 45:18 states that God did not create the world to be a “wasteland” (tohu), and the specific purpose of God’s work in the six days of Genesis 1 is to bring order out of this chaos. There are multiple possible causes for a condition of tohu webohu, just as there could be multiple reasons for a jigsaw puzzle to be in a state of disorder. It could be that I have just taken the puzzle pieces out of the box or that I slammed my fist into the puzzle out of frustration. If the narrator’s intent was to indicate that divine judgment was the cause of the condition of the chaos in Gen 1:2, it seems that the text would more explicitly reflect that idea.

The Gap Theory and the Grammatical Structure of Genesis 1:1–3

Proper understanding of the expression “formless and empty” eliminates the necessity of a gap between the pristine creation of Gen 1:1 and the chaos of 1:2. The syntax and structure of Gen 1:1–3 effectively rule out even the possibility of such a gap. Verse 2 begins with the conjunction waw (“and, but, now”) attached to the noun earth. This type of circumstantial clause introduced by a waw + nonverbal form (referred to as a waw-disjunctive) is not an independent clause and does not denote sequence, which prevents the progression required by the gap theory: “and the earth became formless and empty.” The other two clauses in verse 2 (“darkness covered the surface of the watery depths” and “the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters”) are also waw-disjunctive clauses and provide background information prior to the first specific creative act that begins with “Then God said” in verse 3.

While the gap theory is ruled out, two possibilities remain for how to understand the relationship between the verses in Gen 1:1–3. One is the traditional view that Gen 1:1 describes God’s first act of creation with the six days that follow in the chapter portraying how God brings order out of the initial chaos.⁵ The second option is the precreation chaos view, which reads Gen 1:1 as the title for the chapter and views the chaos described in 1:2 as conditions that exist prior to God’s actual work of creation that begins in 1:3.⁶

Traditional View

Gen 1:1—God’s initial act of creation

Gen 1:2—Conditions resulting from God’s initial act of creation

Gen 1:3—“Then God said” (God’s creative work resumes)

Precreation Chaos View

Gen 1:1—Title for chapter

Gen 1:2—Conditions that exist prior to God’s work of creation

Gen 1:3—“Then God said” (God’s first creative act in the chapter)

There are several key issues dividing these two readings, but, unlike the gap theory, both are viable readings of Gen 1:1–3.⁷ The same basic structure for Gen 1:1–3 proposed by the precreation chaos view also appears in the opening verses of the complementary creation account found in Gen 2:4–7.⁸ One implication of the precreation chaos view would be that Genesis 1 does not portray an ex nihilo (“out of nothing”) creation. This understanding of creation is affirmed elsewhere in the Bible (see John 1:3; Col 1:16; Heb 11:3) but would not be the point of Genesis 1 itself. In contrast, the traditional view affirms creation ex nihilo, and the larger biblical teaching on creation raises questions as to why Gen 1:1 would affirm the existence of preexistent chaos that lies outside of God’s creative activity.

The takeaway from this discussion is that there are viable arguments for both the traditional and precreation chaos views, and the details of Gen 1:1–3 do not fully resolve the issue of young Earth versus old Earth that gave rise to the gap theory. The syntax of Gen 1:1–3 can accommodate an old-Earth creation but also allows for a young Earth view if read in connection with a literal six-day creation in the rest of the chapter.⁹ Faithful readers of Scripture have read Genesis 1 in both ways. For young-Earth creationists, the narrative genre, the numbering of the days, and the references to morning and evening support a literal six-day creation. Other commentators acknowledge these details but read the narrative in more figurative or analogical ways.¹⁰

The Message and Purpose of the Creation Account in Genesis 1

Like other ancient Near Eastern creation accounts, Genesis 1 pictures creation out of a watery chaos. The narrative in Genesis 1 particularly resembles Egyptian creation accounts, which also begin with a watery chaos and then attribute the creation to the spoken word of Atum.¹¹ Recognition of such parallels helps contemporary readers to appreciate more fully the message of Genesis 1 in its ancient literary context. These parallels do not indicate that the biblical text has borrowed from these pagan texts or has adopted their mythological worldview. These parallels merely reflect common conceptual understandings from the ancient world that the biblical writer (and the Holy Spirit) employed to convey his message in an understandable way to his audience. T...

Table of contents

• Acknowledgments
• Prologue
• 1. In the “Gap” between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, Satan Fell, Genesis 1:1–2
• 2. The Trinity Is Directly Taught in Genesis 1:26, Genesis 1:26
• 3. Women Were Created Inferior to Men, Genesis 2:18–20
• 4. The Virgin Birth Was Prophesied in Genesis, Genesis 3:15
• 5. Radical Islam Has Inherited Ishmael’s Violent Spirit, Genesis 16:12
• 6. The Angel of the Lord Refers to the Preincarnate Jesus, Genesis 18:1–13
• 7. Taking the Lord’s Name in Vain Refers to Using God’s Name as a Curse Word, Exodus 20:7
• 8. The Tabernacle Was an Elaborate Picture of Jesus, Exodus 25–40
• 9. Unintentional Sin Is Inconsequential, Leviticus 4–5
• 10. The Mosaic Food Laws Were about Healthy Living, Leviticus 11
• 11. The High Priest Wore a Rope around His Ankle on the Day of Atonement, Leviticus 16
• 12. Old Testament Saints Were Saved by Keeping the Mosaic Law, Leviticus 18:5
• 13. Using the Mosaic Law to Label Homosexuality as Sinful Is Logically Inconsistent, Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13
• 14. The Tithe in Ancient Israel Was 10 Percent of Income, Leviticus 27:30–33
• 15. The Old Testament Law Is Divided into Three Parts, Deuteronomy 6:1
• 16. God Never Expected Israel to Keep His Law, Deuteronomy 29:4
• 17. NASA Found Joshua’s Long Day, Joshua 10:12–15
• 18. You Can Know God’s Will by Putting out the Proverbial Fleece, Judges 6
• 19. God Never Wanted Israel to Have a King, 1 Samuel 8–12
• 20. Christians Should Never Question the Authority of Church Leaders, 1 Samuel 24–26
• 21. If Americans Repent, God Promises to Fix Our Nation, 2 Chronicles 7:14
• 22. Behemoth and Leviathan Are Dinosaurs, Job 40–41
• 23. Psalm 22 Directly Predicts the Crucifixion of Jesus, Psalm 22:16
• 24. Imprecatory Psalms Are Horrible Models for Christian Prayer, Psalm 109
• 25. Psalm 116 Teaches How God Welcomes His Saints at Death, Psalm 116:15
• 26. Proper Parenting Guarantees Godly Children, Proverbs 22:6
• 27. Without Vision, People Perish, Proverbs 29:18
• 28. Proverbs 31: A Checklist for the Perfect Wife, Proverbs 31:10–31
• 29. “Under the Sun” in Ecclesiastes Refers to Life without God, Ecclesiastes 1:2–3
• 30. The Song of Songs Is a Biblical Model for Dating and Marriage, Song of Songs 3:6–5:1
• 31. Isaiah 9 Contains a Prophecy against Post-9/11 America, Isaiah 9:10–11
• 32. Isaiah 14 Portrays the Fall of Satan, Isaiah 14:12–15
• 33. God Created Evil, Isaiah 45:7
• 34. God’s Word Will Never Return Void When We Preach and Evangelize, Isaiah 55:11
• 35. God Has Promised You a Bright and Prosperous Future, Jeremiah 29:11
• 36. The City of Babylon Must Be Rebuilt to Fulfill Prophecy, Jeremiah 50–51
• 37. God Intended “Ezekiel Bread” to Be a Health Food, Ezekiel 4:9
• 38. Gog of Magog Refers to the Leader of Russia, Ezekiel 38–39
• 39. Jonah’s Preaching Produced the Greatest Revival Ever, Jonah 3
• 40. Christians Must Bring Their Whole Tithe into the Local Church, Malachi 3:8–10
• Epilogue
• Name Index
• Scripture Index
• Subject Index