Satan’s Fall And The Creation

Q

In one of your articles you said you believe Satan’s fall occurred between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, causing a judgment that ruined Earth, and the six day creation account really begins in Genesis 1:3. But in Exodus 20:11 God said He made the heavens and the Earth, the sea and all that’s in them in six days. It looks to me like this contradicts your opinion. Would you care to explain this?

A

Comparing Genesis 1:1 with Exodus 20:11 we see that Genesis 1:1 says God created heaven and Earth, whereas Exodus 20:11 says He made heaven and earth. In both cases, the Hebrew words for heaven and earth are the same, but created (Genesis 1:1) and made (Exodus 20:11) are two unrelated words that don’t mean the same thing.

The Hebrew word for created in Genesis 1:1 is bara and it’s followed by an untranslated word that according to some scholars signifies it was a miraculous work, as in creating something out of nothing. This combination of Hebrew words is only used in Genesis 1:1.

The Hebrew word for made In Exodus 20:11 is asah, which means to make something, as a jeweler makes a ring from gold. This word is used ten times in the Old Testament to describe God’s 6-day work of creation and implies He was making something out of something else, as would be the case if He was making an uninhabitable ruin into something habitable. This fits with the literal meaning of Genesis 1:2 which says the Earth became an uninhabitable ruin following its creation.

This gives weight to the view that Exodus 20:11 describes God’s 6-day work of creation beginning in Genesis 1:3 and there’s no contradiction.