Moses wrote the first 5 books of the Bible, including Genesis 1-11. Genesis 1-11 chronicles from the creation of the world until the moment Abraham is called to go to Canaan.
My story
When I became a Christian, I discovered that the bible story is quite a bit different from what the world has taught me. What amazed me most was that, as a churchgoer, no one in the church seemed to care about these facts. I have a great cousin named John, with whom I talked about this matter. With him, I studied the Bible, and he taught me about life on Earth before the flood, degeneration and more.
To summarise it. When God created the heavens and the earth, there was a water canopy over the Earth:
Gen 1:7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
This canopy caused the Earth to be subtropical all around, and radiation didn’t pass through; man and beasts became very old. Dinosaurs and other reptiles grew large. When the flood began (likely caused by a comet from outer space), the canopy collapsed, and it rained for 40 days, as is written in Genesis 7:13.
Some mammals, for example, the mammoths, were taken by surprise and died very quickly. After the flood, all the water froze at the North and South Poles. That is why you can find dinosaur bones at the South Pole. It also explains why there are dinosaur noes found with soft tissue:(Many Dino Fossils Could Have Soft Tissue Inside (archive.org)).
A good book: Coming to grips with Genesis
But there is much more to Genesis 1-11 than I can cover in my testimony. Good questions are:
- What did the church fathers think about Genesis 1-11
- Could you fumble some very long time period somewhere in the text (the gap theory)
- What did Luther, Calvin and Wesley say about these books
- Who wrote this book
- Who began with doubting the age of the earth according to Genesis 1-11, and what were his motives?
A must-read to answer these questions is:
Coming to Grips With Genesis: Biblical Authority and the Age of the Earth – Google Books
Other books about Genesis 1-11
Before continuing, it is helpful to gain a general understanding of how to approach books outside the Bible, which often contain information related to the biblical story. I can try to tell something about it, but Chad Bird can do that better.
Books about the time of Genesis 1-11
You might ask yourselves: are there other books that write about the time before the flood?
Some old books that we have these days, we didn’t really know if they were from before 0 or after. Around 1950, the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, which shed a different light on how old the books are. I’d say if they are not in the Dead Sea Scrolls, they might not be as old.
Which books about Genesis 1-11 were found with the Dead Sea Scrolls?
The book of Enoch
Book? It is more of a collection of books. Interestingly, the second part is not found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The first 36 chapters comprise the Book of the Watchers. This is in line with what is written in Genesis 6 about the Angels who came to visit the Earth, and mated with women. And yes, you might think it is strange that the watchers asked Enoch to intercede to God, but yes, they didn’t have any other way.
The book of Enoch is also part of the ethiopian bible. Did the queen of Sheba took it along when she visited King Solomon?
Ryan Pitterson in Judgement of the Nephilim is very keen in explaining what is not ok with the book of Enoch. Enoch 1 is build up of 4 different books, and be aware, that 1 Enoch the second part, Book of parables, (chapters 37 to 71) is not found among the dead sea scrolls.
What is interesting is that these 2 books are part of the canon of the ethiopian bible. And the version which are in their bible do resemble the text of these books that are found in the dead sea scrolls. The fact that the second part of Enoch is not in the dead sea scrolls, you could say that these part is not as old as the rest of Enoch.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meqabyan
During the Cumran excavations, a manuscript was found, which is called:
The Genesis Apocryphon of Qumran Cave 1 (1Q20) – Google Books
Yes, there is only 1 copy found, but this is really good stuff. I did enjoy reading about the discussion between the father of Noah with his wife about whether he was the father of Noah.
Then somehow the Hebrew word for sons of God, ‘nai ha Elohim became the sons of Set.
What the bible and these books have in common, is that they are very clear that the sons of God mentioned in Genesis 6 are fallen angels. These has always been the point of view of the church, until about the 4th century, when Constantine made Christiainity the state religion.
And so since that time the church tried to get rid of the book of Enoch and Jubiliee, as these books were not in their canon. They managed well, there is almost no manuscript left, besides the dead sea scrolls, the ethiopean bible, and many church fathers do quote from it.
Another very good book is The Discovery of Genesis – Google Books. How the truth of Genesis was found hidden in the Chinese language. It is not only about the fall, but also the flood and the tower of Babel.
