AGE OF THE EARTH

Age of the Earth

For those that say the earth was created approximately 6000 years ago because of the following scriptures, Genesis 1:1-2 and Genesis 2:1-4. Lets explore what they say.

Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

But Genesis 1:1 is only statement that God created the heaven and the earth, but does not say when that beginning was.

Now in Genesis 1:2 we are told:

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."

It sounds like He is in the process of creating the Earth from scratch, but one finds that this is a mistranslation of Hebrews:

"was" = hâyâh A primitive root; to exist, that is, be or become, come to pass.
"without form" = tôhu From an unused root meaning to lie waste; a desolation (of surface), that is, desert; figuratively a worthless thing; adverbially in vain: - confusion, empty place, without form, nothing, (thing of) nought, vain, vanity, waste, wilderness.
"void" = bôhû From an unused root (meaning to be empty); a vacuity, that is, (superficially) an undistinguishable ruin: - emptiness, void.
"darkness" = chôshek the dark; hence (literally) darkness; figuratively misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness: - dark (-ness), night, obscurity.

So a proper translation might be:

"And the earth become a desolation, and undistinguishable ruin; and destruction was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."

Here are a couple more somewhat literal translation of it:

"the earth hath existed waste and void, and darkness [is] on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God fluttering on the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:2, Young's Literal Translation)

"But the earth became waste and void, and with darkness on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon on the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:2, clarified literal translation)

In Isaiah 45:18 we are told that the earth was NOT created in vain. The word vain is the same Hebrew word tôhu translated as 'without form' in Genesis 1:2. So according to the Bible, something happened after the heaven and the earth were created in Genesis 1:1 causing a restoration/recreation of the Earth in Genesis 1:2. Psalms 104 also hints at the Earth being renewed:

Psalms 104:30 "Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest H2318 the face of the earth."

H2318 = A primitive root; to be new; causatively to rebuild:

But what about Genesis 2:

Genesis 2:1-4 "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them... These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens"

"finished" = kâlâh A primitive root; to end, whether intransitively (to cease, be finished, perish) or transitively (to complete, prepare, consume): - accomplish, cease, consume (away), determine, destroy (utterly), be (when . . . were) done, (be an) end (of), expire, (cause to) fail, faint, finish, fulfil, X fully, X have, leave (off), long, bring to pass, wholly reap, make clean riddance, spend, quite take away, waste.
"host" = tsâbâ' tsebâ'âh From H6633; a mass of persons (or figurative things), especially regularly organized for war (an army); by implication a campaign, literally or figuratively (specifically hardship, worship): - appointed time, (+) army, (+) battle, company, host, service, soldiers, waiting upon, war (-fare).
"created" = bârâ' A primitive root; (absolutely) to create; (qualified) to cut down (a wood), select, feed (as formative processes): - choose, create (creator), cut down, dispatch, do, make (fat).

So a proper translation might be:

"Thus the heavens and the earth were make clean riddance, of all the army of them... These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were dispatched, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens"

Revelation 12:4 "And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth:"

The Earth was inhabited by the Angels before the creation of man. In Ezekiel 28, we see that Lucifer had a throne on the earth. He was a ruler over the entire earth. God intended him to rule the earth by administering the government of God over the earth. And the government of God was administered on earth until the rebellion of the sinning angels. How long these angels inhabited the earth before the creation of man is not revealed, it might have been millions of years. It was Satan's rebellion that caused the world to become "desolate".

We are told that the earth is old, so other than that, we have no real facts as to the actual age of the earth.

2 Peter 3:5-8 "For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

The re-creation or new earth of Genesis 1:3-2:3 took six literal days, and the reality is that the Bible supports the idea of a "re-creation." And that is apparently what happened. The dinosaurs and various other animals existed prior to the re-creation.

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